Harry and Warhammer40k
by August Sonereal
Summary: What if James Potter was an avid Warhammer gamer and left his son the game? Now, what if that board game started to develop a mind of its own because a spell became self-aware? You get this. Based on Shinji and Warhammer40k is HARRY and Warhammer40k!
1. The Bad Beginning

So, I was reading the great fanfic, Shinji and Warhammer40k when I got the idea for _this_. At first, this was going to be a short story that would mirror Shinji and Warhammer40k in how the figurines and Warhammer stuff affects the world, but then I started writing and things went into an entirely different direction in regards to how Warhammer is handled.

Its my first fanfic. And with that, here it is!

And don't forget to check out Shinji and Warhammer40k because that is a piece of art and one of the only fanfics I have ever read so much on. Even if you haven't heard of Warhammer, go read that fanfic! =)

* * *

Hagrid was….is…a big, _big, _man. He searched the wreckage of the home of Lily and James Potter, and resisted the strong urge to break down crying. How could this have happened to such nice people? It was over, but their lost, for the moments, overshadowed the joy from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's death.

Then there was a baby crying. In a broken cradle, laid the boy who "killed" Him, it was the Boy Who Lived. Barely a year old, and he somehow managed to take down the most powerful wizard on the planet. Hagrid took three steps over to him until something caught his foot, causing him to stumble. He adjusted just in time to avoid falling to the ground. When he turned back around and looked at what he tripped over, he was clearly angry.

It was a metal suitcase. Duct tape ran across the side of it and in huge black letters were the words, **WARHAMMER 40,000: ROGUE TRADER**.

"Hmm….never heard of it," Hagrid said to himself. He tucked under his arm and walked over to the cradle. The baby had some hair, his green eyes were made apparent once he stopped crying. As soon as he saw Hagrid, he settled and stared at the huge man.

"Don't be 'fraid, kid!" Hagrid looked into the baby's bloodshot eyes; they weren't looking at him. They were looked at the suitcase. He held out his hands, as if asking for the suitcase.

"Nah, this weighs a bit too much for you," Hagrid said. The baby started crying again. Hagrid looked at his pocket watch; he's been here too long already. He snatched up the kid into his massive arm and dropped the suitcase in the cradle. Halfway to the motorcycle, the baby was throwing the largest fit Hagrid's ever seen. He was slamming his tiny fists into Hagrid's massive stomach, hard enough that even Hagrid notice the force behind it.

"Fine!" Hagrid took two giant steps back to the cradle, quickly snatched up the suitcase, and was back to the motorcycle in no time. No more time to be hanging around, the muggles would show up any time now.

Hagrid revved the motorcycle and soon, it was floating in the air, and then roaring into the night sky.

**Half Hour Later**

The streets were bathed in artificial darkness caused by one man's "Puter-Outer". Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall were having such a pleasant conversation until they heard the low, rumbling sound that broke the night silence. They looked to the end of the street for signs of headlights, nothing. Then they looked up to see the largest motorcycle anyone's ever really seen. It _fell _from the sky and landed with a crash in the street.

Not one person in their house stirred. More than likely, even if the neighborhood was awake, only McGonagall and Dumbledore would've probably have heard the magically-enhanced motorcycle.

Dumbledore was relieved, "Hagrid, where did you get the motorcycle?"

"Borrowed it from that nice guy, Sirius Black."

"No problems, were there?"

"No sir. The house was mostly destroyed. The cradle was broken, but it held quite nicely. It's like there was a bubble around the kid or something. Anyway, I got out of there before the Muggles started to swarm the pace. He fell asleep as I flew over Bristol."

The Professors bent to get a closer view of the boy. It was a baby boy, no older than one year of age, fast asleep in the comfort of his blankets and Hagrid's large arm. Under his black hair, visible as day on his forehead, was a scar the shape of a bolt of lightning.

"What is that?" McGonagall asked.

"A scar of course."

McGonagall frowned, "Can't you do something about it?"

"No. And if I could, I wouldn't. It may actually be useful," Dumbledore continued," I have one that is a _perfect _map of the London Underground," his smile subsided as he became serious," Well Hagrid, let's get this over with. Hand the boy to me."

Hagrid handed Harry over to Dumbledore and he turned to face the Dursley's Home.

"Could I say good-bye to him, sir?" Hagrid asked. He leaned over and kissed the boy on the forehead and pulled out just before his beard shaggy beard would disturb his sleep. Then he let out a powerful howl as if wounded.

"Shut up!" McGonagall hissed, "You'll wake everyone in this neighborhood up!"

"S-s-sorry! But I can't stand it! Lily and James are dead and the boy has to live with Muggles-"

"Yes, yes, it's all sad but get a hold of yourself or we'll be caught. And how will it look to these people to see an old man with a beard in his belt and a man the size of a garage?" She asked while patting him on the back, "It's for the best."

Dumbledore walked to the front door and laid the baby wrapped in blankets on the front step. He pulled a letter from his cloak and tucked into the boy's blankets. For a few minutes, the three just stood there and looked at the boy sleeping on the step. He was so tiny compared to the giant man who brought him here, and to the tall man who could possibly hide the baby in his beard.

"Well, that's that. No reason to stick around here anymore. May as well go ahead and join the celebrations."

"Yess….I'll be taking Sirius's bike back. G'night Professors." Hagrid pulled a dirty handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his eyes. He swung himself back on the motorcycle and was just about to take off when he remembered something. He reached his giant arm back to a compartment on the back side of the bike and pulled out the suitcase.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Hagrid said, climbing off the bike in a hurry, "Here, this was the only thing that wasn't destroyed!"

"Hmm…." Dumbledore said as he read the tape on the suitcase. He opened up the suitcase, "It's a board game?"

"Yeah, but its not like Wizard's Chess at all! Feel how damn heavy that thing is?"

Dumbledore quickly skimmed the codex and many reading materials that came with the suitcase. This took a few minutes. McGonagall tapped her foot slowly in the background. "Well….I don't know what to make of it, but there's something….strange about it." He flipped to the final page of one of the booklets, in big black letters was written **PROPERTY OF JAMES POTTER**.

"But its James's….why not give it to his son?" Dumbledore finally said. "Minerva, if the cousin is as bad as you say, then I'm going to have to make sure this final possession isn't taken away. Dumbledore pulled out his wand, muttered a few words, and a blue light emerged from the end of the wand and spread across the surface of the suitcase.

He brought the suitcase over to the doorstep and left it beside Harry. With another spell from his wand, he changed the wording slightly in the letter without even having to open it.

"Well," Dumbledore started, "Its time for us to get to those aforementioned celebrations I was talking about!"

"Yeah…see you two later," Hagrid said. He swung his leg back over the bike. The bike roared back to life and rose rapidly into the air and shot off.

"I shall see you soon as well, Professor McGonagall."

"Yes…yes of course," she replied. She muffled a yawn and walked away. Dumbledore pulled out a silver lighter and with one click, twelve balls of light sped to twelve different street lights, causing Privet Drive to glow orange. Dumbledore can make out the image of a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street.

There he stood, alone in the street. He saw no reason to stay any longer and with one more good-bye, vanished in thin air. Harry Potter rolled in his blankets. He didn't know he was special, that he was famous, and that he was going to woken up by his aunt's scream as she opened the front door to put out milk bottles. He didn't know that his cousin would be a complete jerk to him for the next several years. And he especially didn't know that all over the country, there were people holding up glasses and celebrating his name.

_To Harry Potter—the boy who lived!_

**HARRY POTTER AND WARHAMMER40K**

By August Akuma

**Over Nine Years Later**

"Wake up!" Aunt Petunia shouted as she rasped her knuckles against Harry's door. Truth be told, he was already awake. Last night, he had a strange dream about a flying motorcycle. It was the strangest dream. She shouted once more, "Wake up! Watch the bacon and make sure it doesn't burn. I want my little Dudley's birthday to be _perfect_!"

"I'm coming!" Harry responded. Usually, he didn't have a problem with people randomly banging on his door. It never shook him until now. Maybe it was the dream. Harry got up and quickly got dressed (not much to really choose from in his "wardrobe", a trash bag in the corner of the cupboard).

That metal suitcase was strange. There was a strip of tape with writing but Uncle Vernon ripped that off a long time ago. That was Harry's oldest memories, Uncle Vernon trying everything to open the suitcase. Nothing could get it open. A hammer didn't even dent the surface. He gave up on it five years ago, and since then, it's been in the corner of Harry's cupboard. Harry himself has tried to open it, to no avail.

Stifling a yawn, Harry emerged from the cupboard, turning the single light bulb off. Most of the table and counter surface in the dining room and kitchen was taken by gifts of various sizes. It looks like Dudley got his PC, bicycle (Harry grinned at the thought of that fat ass riding it anywhere), VCR, and a new television. In other words, everything the perfect lazy slob "needs".

Harry finished serving breakfast, just in time for Dudley to come in. He wore a stupid grin that went well with his somewhat toupee-looking short blonde hair and pink face. Dudley was big, in a round way. As Harry ate some bacon, he watched the boy count the presents, whom had started over _several _times as he completely and utterly forgot where he was. This went on for a minute, and Harry was hopeful that he gets it this time since the last time he started over, the boy was at thirty-one.

And then Uncle Vernon walked into the room, looked at Harry just as Dudley reached twenty-seven, and greeted Harry the same way he does every morning, "Comb your hair, boy!" Dudley swore vehemently as he lost track again and Vernon smacked up upside he head, sat down, opened the newspaper, and sipped on tea.

Finally, Dudley finished. There was something odd about his face, as if he ate a sour lemon whole. Aunt Petunia had jus entered the room when Dudley finally spoke quietly, "There's only thirty-_six _presents here…"

Vernon was puzzled, "So?"

Dudley's voice rose a little bit, "That's two _less _than last year."

Petunia corrected him, "You forgot your Aunt's present hear under the big one from mommy and daddy, sweetums."

His voice was a little louder than his "normal" voice, but not even close to yelling, "That's thirty-_seven_ then!"

Harry quickly finished his plate as he saw where this was going. Knowing Dudley, if Harry took too long to finish his meal when Dudley went into a meltdown, the table would be flipped atop of him. Petunia sensed the tantrum coming as well, and quickly mentioned, "And while we're out today, we'll get you _two _presents. Wouldn't that be fun?"

"Ok," he said, "So, that'll be thirty….thirty…."

"Nine," Petunia finished.

Vernon chuckled, "The boy wants his money worth like his father! Good boy, son!"

Harry sighed and prayed no one noticed. It got sadder every year. The telephone rang and Petunia left the room to answer it. Meanwhile, Dudley opened all his presents, not even slowing down to actually _look _at them first. Ask him about the last present he opened and he would probably have asked, "Which one now?"

When Petunia came back in the room, it too, looked like she took a bite off the same sour lemon Dudley had earlier when he didn't get enough presents, "Bad news. Mrs. Figg broke her leg and can't watch _him_," she jerked her head at my direction, "today."

Dudley's mouth dropped while Harry's formed a grin. Every single year, Harry's guardians would take Dudley somewhere fun on the fat jerk's birthday and leave Harry to be watched by the "crazy cat lady" whose house smelled _awful_.

"Now what?" she asked.

"We could call Marge," Vernon suggested.

"Nonsense, she hates the boy."

"I'm still here guys…." Harry said. Vernon glanced at him and continued on like nothing was said.

"What about you friend?

"She's on vacation out of country."

"You guys _could _just leave me here."

"And come back to find my house in ruins?" Petunia snapped.

Harry was going to say he wouldn't blow up the house, but something pulled at him, and it came at like this instead, "_Yes_. I plan on ruining _your _home while you were gone. Not only that, but tonight, I planned on sneaking into people's houses and wrecking up the place as well."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!?"

"Nothing?" Harry replied. What _did _he just say?

Petunia blinked a few times, Harry's never snapped back like that. "Umm….we could just leave him in the car."

"That car's new! I'm not leaving him alone in it."

Again, Harry found himself saying something else that would result in stricter food rations for the night, "Geez Uncle Vernon. Thank you for the vote of confidence."

Vernon's face turned beat red and was about to get up to smack Harry when Dudley started crying. "He's….he's….r-r-ruining my birthday!"

Petunia quickly rushed to her boy's side and hugged him, "Oh sweetums, I'm not going to let the mean old boy ruin your birthday!"

"I-I-I don't want him to come!" Dudley was bawling at this point. Not that he was really crying. Harry hadn't seen the boy really cry in years. Of course, crying is a sure-fire way of getting whatever you want when you're already spoiled. The doorbell rang.

"Oh, they're here already!" Petunia went to the front door and came back into the kitchen moments later with Dudley's friend, Piers Polkiss behind her. Dudley had cut the act way before she even opened the door. Piers was Dudley's friend. A scrawny kid himself, his job was to pull the victim's arms behind their back while Dudley wailed on him.

A half-hour later and Harry still couldn't believe his luck. Instead of arguing in front of Piers, the Dursley's (except Dudley that is) agreed to just take Harry along with them. He sat in the back with Dudley and Piers (both of whom were having fun punching Harry in the shoulder when the parents weren't paying any attention, not that they were actively going to stop it if they did see it.

A motorcycle shot past the car and Uncle Vernon went on one of his trademark tirades, "Hoodlums! Driving around the city and other people's cars, thinking they owned the place!"

"I had a dream about a motorcycle. It flew." Harry immediately wished he hadn't say anything as Uncle Vernon slammed on the brakes.

"MOTORCYCLES DO NOT FLY!" He yelled. Piers and Dudley snickered at Harry and Harry turned to face the window.

"I know they don't," Harry said still facing out the window, "It was only a dream."

It was Saturday at the zoo, and the place swelled with dozens of families; three groups of students from different schools, and other assorted groups you would think go to a zoo on a Saturday for fun. The Dursley's brought their son and his friend a chocolate ice cream. Luckily, the woman who gave the two their ice cream asked if Harry wanted something before Vernon had pushed him along. He ended up with the cheapest one, a lemon ice pop.

He didn't complain; it had tasted good. The rest of the day went something like that. Later in the day, Dudley complained about an ice cream his parents had just bought him (again) and Harry ended up getting to finish it instead. What was wrong with the ice cream? It was too small.

Then there was the Reptile House. Dudley and Piers were near yelling at the sleeping boa constrictor to move. The boa constrictor, looking as if it could crush a car with its body, just slept on, ignoring the riff-raff.

"Get it to move, Dad!" Dudley ordered his father. Vernon tapped on the glass several times and when the boa didn't move, the three moved on to the next exhibit. Harry felt bad for the boa constrictor. Unlike Harry, the boa constrictor was trapped behind a glass for the world to amuse over it. Every day, every hour, someone was tapping the glass, trying to get it to perform tricks.

Harry watched it sleep; amazed by the sheer power it looked like it possessed. And then its head rose, it looked at Harry and _winked_. The constrictor jerked its head to the direction that the three intruders had wandered off to and rolled its eyes as if to say, "I get this all the time."

"I know. Trust me, he's an annoying one. Him and his friend." Harry murmured.

Harry couldn't understand why, but it sounded like the snake was responding to him, "Which one are you related to then?"

"The fat one."

"Sorry."

Harry chuckled silently. He looked around to make sure no one was listening in before continuing, "So, where are you from?" The constrictor jerked its head to a sign: **BRAZIL**. "Was it nice there?" Harry asked.

"Keep reading friend."

Harry read the small print under the word Brazil: Bred in Captivity.

"I'm sorry."

"DADDY, LOOK AT WHAT'S IT DOING NOW!" Dudley slammed against Harry, hitting him in the ribs and knocking him to the ground. Piers and Dudley were pressed up against the glass to get a closer look. Harry was angry at the two, and then it happened. The glass disappeared. Piers remained upright, but Dudley wasn't as lucky and fell into through.

The constrictor slithered past Dudley, past the "window mark", snapped at Vernon's feet, and left. "Later, friend." The snake said.

For the next half-hour it took to get home, it was nothing but Piers and Dudley crying and whining about how the constrictor was so close to killing them.

"He almost poisoned me!" Piers said.

"Oh yeah, he almost _crushed _me!" Dudley would shoot back.

Once they were home, and Piers went home, Vernon turned to Harry. His face was flushed with anger, "GO-CUPBOARD-NOW!"

The fifteen minutes after that was just Harry, in his cupboard, trying to get a word edge-wise while Vernon yelled at him, "AND YOU'RE NOT COMING OUT OF THERE UNTIL THE SUMMER!"

The sun was already setting when they arrived home. When Harry started to think it was dark, and that the Dursley's were already asleep. At first, he planned on leaving and sneaking food, but decided against it.

"I didn't do anything…" Harry muttered to the darkness over and over again. He turned the light off so that the Dursley's didn't think he was still awake.

"Not on purpose that is." A voice in the darkness seemed to replied.

"What does that mean?" Harry asked. No answer.

_Duh, of course I'm not going to get an answer, I'm hearing things_. But when he heard a distinctive _click_, he started to wonder. He pulled on a cord and turned on the light bulb. The suitcase was open. Harry stared at it for five minutes before he moved to drag it over to him. There was a pocket watch in it; it was exactly midnight, ten seconds ago.

Harry picked up some figurines. One of Imperial Space Marine, and another of a Chaos Space Marine. And then he saw the Codex. As Harry pulled them out, he noticed how incredibly _new _they looked. And then he reached the one on the bottom. It was laid at the bottom, defiantly in the knowledge of how old it looked compare to the others. Harry leafed through that one quickly. He didn't feel like reading until he got to the last page. In huge black letters were the words:** Property of James Potter**.

Harry grabbed the others and quickly went to the back, no name, but there was something strange about the last one he went through. It was dated for 2004. Harry ignored it; maybe it was just a mistake. He grabbed the oldest one and began reading and then he picked up the next one, and the next one. There was a lot of reading.

Before he went to bed, he grabbed the two figurines that grabbed his attention early. The Chaos Space Marines and Imperial Space Marine, and placed them under his pillow. He had locked the suitcase and all its contents and hid it under his mattress.

It was the easiest sleep he had in years.


	2. School Days

Well, here's something that certainly _wasn't _in the book unless several of my pages were stuck together ;).

I'm surprised about how many people have seen/read this story so far to be honest. Probably because its Harry Potter. If I put Twilight/Harry Potter/Warhammer, I think the views would've doubled. =D. Anyway, here's the next part. There will be another chapter **tomorrow**. Yes. And finally, this story is going to be (stuck) close to the original story up until you guys get to the train. And the reason I say "you guys" is because I've been writing far ahead, but I space between updates (or else there'll be a 3000-5000 word update everyday, which is a hassle for me to really work with in Document Manager for some reason).

Anyway, here's Harry and Warhammer 40k.

* * *

**School Days**

Harry was still allowed to go to school. However, he was not allowed to leave the cupboard for near anything else except to use the bathroom. His Aunt would bring him his single meal a day, dinner, which normally just consisted of a bottle of water and bread. School was the only thing Harry could look forward to a week after his punishment begun.

There were only two other things that made Harry happy. Reading the Warhammer material, and this girl he had a crush on. After years of being almost alone in his world, this Warhammer stuff was almost a blessing. It gave him comfort somehow in its epic imagery and the sheer scale of the war and technology. Mighty Space Marines battling the Force of Chaos in some corner of the galaxy, the Chaos Gods and their power, the psykers, Inquisition, all of it appealed to the young Harry.

But it was the Chaos Space Marines that seemed to have formed an avatar inside Harry's mind. Just days after the vanishing act with the glass at the zoo, Harry found himself stronger. He began to lift everything in his cupboard, just for exercise. During school, he helped carried books and took more than his fair share. At first, the load was close to unbearable, but soon enough, it was nothing.

Harry's life was nothing but chaos. Abusive guardians, idiot cousin and his goons, all of it was Chaos.

**One Week, Two Days after Vanishing Glass, Monday**

Luckily for Harry, he lived within walking distance of school. Unfortunately for Harry, he lived within walking distance of school with Dudley and his gang. Normally, Harry woke up before Dudley and was out of the house and on his way to school before him and his gang could pay him any mind. However, since he was up all night reading, he slept in. By the time Harry was making himself a bowl of cereal, Dudley was already out the door.

Harry grabbed his backpack from under his bed. The Chaos Space Marine laid next to his pillow still. He grabbed it and placed it under the bed to hide it, just in case his Aunt ever came in here. Just as he was about to leave the house, he had a change of heart and walked back to the cupboard and grabbed the Chaos Space Marine and placed it a small pocket on his backpack.

"Get to school!" Aunt Petunia screeched at him when he left the cupboard. In no mood to argue that he was on his way, he sighed and left. He was always near an hour early leaving the house anyway. The halfway mark to the school from Privet Drive was the small park with a huge old tree where Dudley and his gang like to hang out before and after school. Normally, it wasn't an issue for Harry in the morning, but today they were waiting.

Dudley and Piers were there, but so were a couple of other guys. One guy was small and a tad round, but nowhere near as vast as Dudley. While another one was tall and skinny to stereotypically balance out the other goon. Piers was of average height and scrawny of course.

"Good morning Harry," Dudley greeted, "You're usually already at school by now."

"Good morning Dudley," Harry replied. Harry didn't make eye contact. Instead, he looked straight down at his shoes and tried to walk around the gang. The tall goon took one large step to the side and blocked Harry off.

"Wah? Don't want to talk to your own cousin and his friends?" He grinned. Harry looked to either side of him. Dudley and the tall goon trade spots. Now, the tall one was to Harry's left….the small one to the right….where was-

_Piers liked to grab the victim's arms from behind while Dudley wails on the victim._

_Move Harry!_

Harry froze. Time seem to slow and Harry's mind wander off. He was now standing on water….but it wasn't water. It was….a sea of blood.

_Blood? _Harry thought.

Harry was standing atop of a sea of blood and in front of him was a throne of white. The way it was shaped was mysterious to Harry. He took a few steps, the sea held his weight. When he came closer to the throne, he could see that it wasn't made out of marble, but of skulls. Thousands, millions, _billions _of skulls.

_If this is the Throne of Skulls…must mean…!_

Harry snapped back to reality as he felt Piers grab his arms and pulled them behind his back. Dudley laughed. The tall goon and short goon took a turn to punch Harry in the stomach once each. Then it was Dudley's turn.

"This is for ruining my birthday party!" Dudley pulled back his fist.

Then Harry began to _laugh_. His laughter froze Dudley in mid-punch. Harry muttered something under his breathe.

"What was that?" Dudley grabbed a handful of Harry's hair and pulled it to make eye contact with him. His breathe was uncomfortably hot against Harry's face, but Harry didn't seemed to care. "_What did you say?_"

"Blood for the Blood God!" Harry yelled, "_SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!_"

Harry threw his head back and bashed it against Pier's skull. Harry was ok, but Piers let go of his grip and grabbed his nose; it was bleeding. The Tall Goon and Short Goon tried to jump Harry, but all Harry did was take a single step backwards and the two collided in mid-air.

Dudley threw himself at Harry and sent the both of them to the ground with Dudley on top wailing on him. Piers was nursing his broken nose while Short Goon and Tall Goon started to reorient themselves. After a minute a vicious punching from Dudley, Harry got bored and slammed his fist against the side of Dudley's face. Dudley _flew _off of Harry. Tall Goon saw this happen and immediately took a step away from Harry, but the short one didn't and was rushing to jump Harry.

Harry pulled back his fist and just as the boy was about crash into him, Harry slammed his fist right into the boy's nose. Unlike Pier's, the boy fell to the ground, screaming in pain. The Tall Boy was in an interesting position. On one hand, does he run away and be branded a traitor by his "friends", or does he take on this boy who just manhandled most of the gang in under five minutes.

The Tall Boy picked the third option. He got on his knees and begged, "Man, I'm sorry! I only picked on you because Dudley and his friends made anyone who tried to be friends with you rethink their choice!"

Harry took a long look at the boy, "What's your name?"

"S-s-Stephen Maxwell," he stuttered.

"How do I know you're not just saying that in fear of getting your butt handed to you like these three?"

"I swear, man. As soon as word gets around that you just beat up the bullies, things will change!"

Harry thought about it. Stephen Maxwell looked like he was telling the truth. He wasn't crying, meaning he wasn't in total fear of being beaten up.

Finally, Harry said, "Kick Dudley in the ribs then." He pointed to Dudley, who was still lying on the ground recovering from the fist that nearly destroyed his head.

"Fine!" Stephen muttered. He walked over to Dudley and looked down on him. Then, he lifted his leg. Just as he was about to destroy Dudley's ribs, Harry laughed, "Alright, I believe you."

Harry arrived to class. Still early, but not first like usual. His classmates knew that Dudley must've have gotten to him. Harry's lip was puffy, and he looked beat up. Wait? Isn't that one of Dudley's goons? Why are those two laughing and talking to each other?

Then Dudley and his goons walked in. The room quieted. Piers was the luckiest. His nose wasn't really broken, just bleeding. And it wasn't even bleeding no more, but you could tell that he had taken a hit. The Short Goon was a worst off. You could _tell _his nose was broken. And then there was Dudley, poor Dudley. It looked like someone through a phone book at his face at Mach 2 speed. His left eye was black, and his cheek was bruised.

It wasn't long before the class came to the logically conclusion (with some hints from Stephen, who wasn't in the least bit afraid to tell people what happened). Dudley and his three friends had teamed up on Harry. Harry, finally having enough of it, kicked three of their asses and Stephen was the lone survivor.

Harry sat at his desk, three minutes before class began, and one girl came up to him. She was blushing and asked Harry if he was alright.

"Yeah, it wasn't as bad as it looks," he joked, "For me that is."

"That's good. Can we like, talk after class or something? If that's alright with you-"

"Of course!" Harry exclaimed before she even finished. Her face turned a deeper shade of red with his.

"Ok, well, I'll talk to later," she smiled and scurried off to her desk.

It was the girl Harry had a crush on, Kayla. It was also the same girl Dudley had a crush on. Dudley sat in the middle of the room with his remaining friends around him. Piers and the short one are his most loyal ones now. Dudley was so angry, he didn't speak to anyone (as oppose to him casually joking during class). First, his freak cousin ruins his birthday, then he beats him up, and now he's trying to take "his" girl (even though she doesn't like him anyway).

Like most childhood crushes, and how they're responded to third party children, the girls sat around Kayla giggling while Harry was surrounded by guys who were joking around, patting him on the back, and other manly things. The teacher was annoyed, but also apathetic and didn't honestly care after a hour of teaching.

Harry found confidence in beating up Dudley and his gang. For that, he wasn't shy when he talked to Kayla at her table, surrounded by her friends, during lunch. Dudley was still loathing Harry from afar at his table, which was now one person short as Steven hung out with Harry.

"Look at him! It's like he's his dog or something." Dudley chimed.

"Yeah, what a loser!" Piers and the short one

"Hey Jordan…"

"Yeah?" Jordan (the short goon) asked.

"Get your brother back over here."

Jordan squeaked. Steven Maxwell was his brother. Jordan squeaked because Dudley never referred to Steven as "your brother", just Steve or Steven. "Why?" Jordan asked.

"Just do it!"

Jordan got up from the lunch table, leaving his tray behind. Steven was sitting next to Harry at a lunch table, both talking and joking around with Kayla and her friends.

"Ok…what am I going to say?" Jordan asked himself over and over again as he walked over to the table. "I can't force him, can I? What would Harry do? Kill me?"

By the time Jordan reached the table, the only words that came out was, "B-b-brother…you should….ummm…."

"No." Steven said, not even looking at his brother, "If anything, you should hang out with Harry and me."

"I don't know-"

"Jordan." When Harry spoke, Jordan flinched. _Blood for the Blood God_ was a phrase that wasn't going to leave anyone's mind, nor the voice that screamed it, "Dudley isn't going to do anything to you if you hang out with me and Steven."

"Yes he will!"

"No he won't Jordan, sit with us!" Kayla said, "He's just a bully. Noticed that most people were only nice to him when they thought he was unbeatable?"

"But isn't he doing the same!?" Jordan pointed at Harry, "Isn't that the only reason why you're hanging out with him?"

"No. As a matter of fact," Kayla smiled at Harry, "If anyone had beaten up Dudley, I would've started hanging out with Harry immediately." Harry blushed.

"Wha-wha-what?"

"Yeah," Steven started, "Dudley didn't have anyone that could really challenge him. If there was anyone who could, then his power would've been broken over a lot of people. Like me."

"Noticed how Harry isn't threatening anyone?" Kayla mentioned.

Jordan stood fixed in his spot. He could go back to Dudley's table, but what good would that do for him? Or, he could hang out with Potter and risk getting beat up by Dudley. However, even that didn't seem so bad. Dudley lost half of his gang already.

_Already_. Jordan though, _I've already betrayed him then?_

"Fine," Jordan smiled, "I hereby resign from my spot as being Dudley's mindless goons to being Harry's mindless goon!"

"Hey!" Harry and Steven said simultaneously.

"What?"

"I wasn't a mindless goon!" Steven said.

"And I don't want _mindless _goons!"

Jordan laughed, "Then we're friends!" Then he muttered, "Mindless friends…."

"Hey!" Steven and Harry yelled again. The four of them including Kayla started to laugh. Meanwhile, Dudley sat at his table waiting for Jordan to return. When Jordan sat down next to his brother, Dudley picked up Jordan's lunch tray and tossed it across the room, hitting someone in the back of the head.

The guy he hit got up from his table, looked around, saw a red-faced Dudley, and marched over to Dudley's table with his tray with his half-eaten meal on it in one hand and the flung, messy tray in the other.

"You throw this?"

"Yeah! So what?"

"Nothing. There was just so much food on it, so I assumed you 'accidentally' through a full tray of food at me and now, you might be hungry? So, want mine? Even has desert!"

Dudley started at the kid's tray, there was a paper bowl of pudding, on it, "I want the pudding! I'm so hungry!" Dudley rubbed his stomach.

"Oh, ok, here you go!" The boy dropped the tray that was flung at him to the ground, took the pudding off the tray, and threw right into Dudley's face.

"Why you-!" Dudley jumped up from his seat and wiped the pudding out of his eyes. The boy he was picking on was _almost _as strong as Dudley. However, he alone against normally, four to five of Dudley's friends usually resulted with Dudley winning. Now that he was just about alone (since Piers was hardly a physical threat other than grabbing), it was the kid's turn for revenge. Revenge consisted of the kid stepping to the side and tripping Dudley, who fell on the same tray he threw at the boy.

The cafeteria was in an uproar. Everybody, including the lunch staff and janitor, were laughing at him. Even Harry laughed something he hasn't _really _done for years.


	3. Practice

Well, here's the next installment! Sorry for the long wait. Things came up. Ok, right now, I've finished the chapter after this one (I'm spacing in between updates, and my internet's' been messed up).

The next chapter will be off canon, but sadly, the one after won't. The reason being that some things have to happen to get this story on track (there will be a lot of out of canon stuff though, and by chapter...seven (?), things we have went in a completly new direction.)

Not to say that the chapter after the next is direct-from-the-book stuff, but its basically the same events but with a different telling and Harry doing different things.

Anyway, here's the next chapter!

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**Practice**

School let out at the same time it always does. The ending was just different. Dudley and Piers were the first ones to leave, like usual. What wasn't usual is that their posse was halved in a course of a day. Steven and Jordan walked with Harry and Kayla back to Harry's house. Piers and Dudley weren't hanging out by the tree, like usual either. Instead, Dudley had ran home with Piers, acting like he was crying, and complained to his parents about how Harry viciously ambushed the two of them and beat them up.

When Harry and company arrived to Number Four Privet Drive, a red-faced Vernon and sour-faced Petunia stood in the lawn with a hurt Dudley. Physically, yeah, he was still hurting. However, Harry hit him in an area more sensitive to Dudley then his face, his pride. In one day, Dudley had lost his empire built on being the strongest bully with a circle of loyal stooges.

"Boy!" Vernon shouted as Harry and company arrived, "YOU DARE BEAT UP ON MY SON!"

Harry was about to respond before Steven started in, "Dudley started it! Harry was just defending himself!" Dudley's eyes squinted and his glared at Steven, his ex-friend.

"You was probably there to, weren't you!? It takes more than just scrawny boy to beat up my son!"

"As-if." Jordan replied.

"You three, get off my lawn before I call your parents!" Vernon shouted. Kayla, Jordan, and Steven made their goodbyes and left.

"And _you_," Vernon turned to Harry, "Go to your cupboard! First, say sorry to Dudley for _ambushing _him on his way to school. No dinner tonight!"

Harry grinned, push past Dudley who was awaiting the apology, and went to his cupboard, locking it behind him. He could hear Vernon swearing and Dudley acting like he was still in pain. Dudley wasn't a great actor; it's just that his parents were dumb and loved to spoil him. In their eyes, their son is perfect and can commit no foul and make no folly.

"Idiots," Harry muttered. He went and lied down on his cot to think. Today was….different. Too different.

_It was, wasn't it?_ Harry heard a voice, but wasn't sure if it was just in his head or what.

"Yeah," Harry thought in response. He waited for the voice to respond, but nothing.

Finally, Harry got bored and decided to reread some of the Warhammer40k stuff. He dragged out the suitcase and placed it on his bed. Then he went back other to look for the Chaos Space Marine in his backpack. He found it and when he turned around back to his bed, he was shocked to see that the suitcase was already opened. Harry looked at the Chaos Space Marine, it almost looked like he was smiling, as oppose to his usual stoic face.

Maybe I'm just seeing things? Harry thought to himself. He tried to read some of Warhammer stuff, but he was just too tired. He grabbed the Chaos Space Marine, and instead of putting it under his pillow as usual, he tucked it into the suitcase and slid the metal suitcase back under his bed.

**Hours later**

The Dursleys were sound asleep. Not that they would be too much help for when Harry awoke. He had a nightmare. Now that he was awake, he couldn't remember what it was about, but it was certainly horrific. His scar was _burning _and for the next five minutes, he was paralyzed by pain. Finally, the pain subsided. He got out of bed and unlocked his door slowly as to not make too much noise in case the Dursleys were awake.

Harry went back to his and tried to fall back to sleep, but thoughts keep flowing back into his head. _Why _did he stand up to Dudley today, _how _did he? Why is he so outgoing now when he was shy just yesterday? The more Harry thought about these questions, the more he wanted to open the suitcase. He didn't want to read anything, didn't want to mess with the figurines, he just wanted to open it.

Finally, the urge overcame him. He scrambled for the suitcase under his bed and plopped it down on his bed. Harry's fingers barely even reached the suitcase as he went to open again when it shot open as if it was on a spring.

_Strange…_Harry thought. There was something….wrong about all of this. Yet, as soon as it was opened, Harry felt his mind at ease. He wasn't stressing out over the "why" or "how" he beat Dudley. The point was that it was done and done. He's been usurped and now Harry now outranks Dudley.

The more Harry thought about it, the more it made sense. Everyone saw Dudley's face; it looked like he got hit with a baseball bat! Who was going to challenge the guy who did that to Dudley _and _two of his goons? Yet, it was still….wrong. Why would Harry want to become like Dudley? Sure, he could easily do the same thing now that Dudley did to him at school. He could make it so that he never has a friend but Piers again, but why would he do that?

_Because it's the right thing to do_. A voice said. Harry ignored the fact that he couldn't see the speaker. He just continued his thoughts aloud.

"No its not! Hurting people is not a good thing." Harry didn't expect to be answer.

"Some people deserve it."

Harry was taken aback by the response, but continued anyway as if he was talking face to face with the voice, "Yes, maybe-"

"You wanted to punch him like that for years, so what's the problem?"

"A lot of people want to do a lot of things, doesn't mean they should!"

"Why not?"

"Because it isn't right…."

The voice stopped talking to Harry. So, he grabbed the Chaos Space Marine from the suitcase and slid it under his pillow. Just as he was about to shut the suitcase, he froze and also grabbed the Imperial Space Marine. He wasn't sure why, he just wanted to. With the two under his bed, Harry fell back to sleep. There was still school tomorrow after all.

**Jordan and Steven**

When the two brothers walked into the kitchen, their mom was both the usual happy, and of course, shocked. Her short son, Jordan, looked like he ran into a brick wall face first. She demanded them to tell her what happened. Without a single sign of effort, Jordan and Steven told her the complete and honest truth.

Dudley Dursley had beaten them up, mostly on the shorter and younger Jordan. Steven was trying to help Jordan, but was grabbed from behind by Piers. Just in time, Harry jumped in and fought off Piers and Dudley.

Nothing was done about the incident the night the mother heard it because her two sons kept telling her that it was ok and it was no big deal.

**Kayla**

Kayla was heading home when a group of her friends caught up with her outside her door. In short, it was mostly the girls telling her about all the gossip going around about her and Harry. Kayla ignored them, said they he and her were just friends, and turned away to go home just before someone would notice her blushing.

**The Dursleys**

It was the strangest night the three have had since the day Harry literally arrived on their doorstep. They ate their dinner without Harry, which wasn't unusual. It was just silent. The Dursley son was beaten up by his scrawny cousin. While that bit of information was damaging to Dudley at school, he didn't notice that his father was kinda ashamed himself. Aunt Petunia gave him an ice pack once he had gotten home. She even served him his favorite meal that night, steak, over the planned cheeseburgers that she was planning.

And Vernon….well, what could he do? His son lost and it's not like he could beat up his nephew for Dudley. All these years, and Vernon thought that his son was perfect. That he was at his peak physical, mental, and emotional condition. Today, Vernon snapped himself from that illusion. The fact is was that his son really wasn't strong, just big in a bad way. His son was of average intelligence at best and worst yet; his son was a crybaby and spoiled.

Things were going to change around here.

**The Next Day**

It was like a normal day. Aunt Petunia was up first, following her husband. She cooked breakfast which consisted of eggs, bacon, and toast. Meanwhile, her husband took a shower and got ready for work. An hour later, Harry was awake and got ready for school in his cupboard. A few minutes later, Dudley was up. He was out of bed and downstairs eating dinner just as Harry emerged from his cupboard ready to go to school with Chaos Marine and Space Marine in a pocket on his backpack.

Harry grabbed the doorknob and just before he turned it, Uncle Vernon shouted, "Hey boy!" Harry turned around; Uncle Vernon was coming down the stairs, in his normal business suit. He continued, "Did you eat breakfast this morning?"

Harry wasn't sure what to make of the question. Vernon's face wasn't beat red, so he wasn't angry. "No. I-"

"Well then, go get yourself a plate of eggs or something." Vernon ordered and went to the kitchen himself. For the first time, the four were sitting at the table eating breakfast on a workday. It was strange. Harry tried to eat quickly, but he was too hungry just to do that. Vernon sat at the table, ate his meal methodically like Petunia. The difference was that Petunia often glared at Harry.

Dudley ate like a pig. Not unusual really. Vernon, without looking up from his meal, said, "Chew slower boy."

"Sorry Uncle Vernon-"Harry started to say but Vernon raised his hand to cut him off.

"I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to Dudley." Vernon continued, still eating.

Dudley was about to argue but a quick glance from his dad told him that it probably wasn't a good idea. He chewed slower and with his mouth shut. Harry and Dudley finished together. As custom, Harry was about to grab the Dursley's empty plates for them so he can wash them, but once again, Vernon stopped him.

"Dudley will be doing the dishes today, run along Harry." Vernon said. He picked up a newspaper and began reading. Meanwhile, Dudley was fuming but he was still sure he wasn't allowed to say anything. Harry grabbed his backpack and was out the door just as Dudley reached the kitchen sink to begin scrubbing the dishes.

After Dudley left, Petunia turned to Vernon, "What was that about, Vernon?"

"What was what about?" Vernon asked innocently.

"The boy is usually the one who does the dishes."

"Which one?"

"Harry!"

Vernon picked up the cup of tea that Petunia made for him for breakfast, he hadn't even took a sip yet, "I just thought that maybe Dudley should do it today, that's all. The boy is getting older and needs to take on more responsibility around the house."

"We got him a bike, and new computer, and a new TV! That'll teach him responsibility."

"No. I meant that it was time that he did actual work. That stuff teaches him that as he gets older, he'll be trusted with more things, _fun _things that he likes. He has to learn sooner or later that life isn't just about leisure, but hard work as well."

Petunia pursed her lips, but just nodded her head. Her husband was right.

**Later that Day**

School was different. Everything felt natural. There were still some people who thought he was weird because he had to wear Dudley's old clothes, which clearly are baggy on him. However, now that the wall that was Dudley's threats that had been cutting Harry off from the rest of the class is gone, people were free to get to know Harry.

And somehow, Harry wasn't shy. His hair was unkempt, and his clothes were baggy. Still, that didn't stop him from getting to know people, especially Kayla. Steven and Jordan quickly became Harry's best friends as well. Steven was the smart one, and did well in school now that Dudley didn't place a stigmata on "being smart". Jordan wasn't as smart, but he was the comedian of the group.

Still, something about this entire still felt strange to Harry. Why hadn't people stood up to Dudley before? Harry thought about it on the walk home from school.

"What are you thinking about Harry?" Kayla tapped him on the shoulder, "Hmm?"

Harry smiled, "That big test in a couple of days."

"Which one? Need help studying?" Steven offered.

"Well, umm-"

"Of course he wants to study with us!" Jordan chimed in.

"Well, I'll have to ask my-my…." Harry stuttered. He never really asked to leave the house before, and technically, he's still under punishment, "my Uncle."

"Cool," Jordan said, "Ask if you can come over tomorrow after school. We live just over there." He pointed down the street to a blue house.

"Yeah, later Harry," Steven said. He and Jordan split from the group and went home, leaving Kayla and Harry there alone. They just noticed it was by Dudley's old gang tree.

"Well, bye Harry," she grinned, "Don't take nothing from Dudley, now!"

"I won't," Harry laughed. She turned to leave as well, leaving Harry to walk to Number Four Privet Drive alone.

Dudley now gets home before Harry does. He sat at the dining room table, eating a snack and watching TV. Aunt Petunia was cooking dinner and Uncle Vernon sat alone in the living room reading the newspaper.

Harry feigned a cough, "Um, Uncle Vernon?"

"Yes?" Vernon asked, still reading the newspaper.

"I was wondering if it was ok if I go over to a friend's house after school tomorrow."

Vernon folded the newspaper and looked at Harry for a moment, as if reading his thoughts on his face. When Vernon couldn't read what Harry was thinking, he asked, "What for?"

"To study for a big test for English that's coming up Friday."

"Oh, ok then."

"Huh?" Harry was surprised at how easy the answer came. What happened to the Uncle Vernon who would've yelled at him over something like this?

"I said you can go."

"Thank you Uncle Vernon."

Harry went to his cupboard to change out of his school clothes. Vernon placed the newspaper on the end table next to him and yelled for Dudley. Dudley, annoyed that his snack time before dinner was being interrupted, arrived a full two-minutes later.

"Where were you?" Vernon asked.

"Eating a snack,"

"Whatever, have you studied for your tests for Friday?"

"Yes, of course dad." Dudley lied.

"Today?"

"No…yes….umm…"

"How about you bring me your notes or whatever you have that can help you on this test and I help you study? I want you to get an A++ on this test." Uncle Vernon said.

_My son is going to do better than Harry on this test even if it kills me!_


	4. Test Day!

Since it was brought up (a couple of times actually, and not just here), I'll go ahead and explain some of the things behind the last chapter. One, Vernon and Petunia aren't the same. Vernon likes his son more than he hates Harry by a long shot. Petunia is _very _close, but she likes her son slightly more than she hates Harry (or at least, that was the feeling I got from the book.) When Dudley lost the fight, Vernon was of course angry at Harry, but was also sorta angry at his son for _losing _to Harry. It other words, Vernon is trying to make his son better than Harry again.

And because the suitcase won't become more central until a bit later, I _think_ will go ahead and explain that more. The explanation will be at the bottom of the page for anyone who doesn't want spoilers.

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**Test Day**

School was just about over. Monday would be the last day and it would be filled with celebration throughout the school as every student and teacher sits close to the edge of their seats, awaiting that glorious final bell that will release them to their grand summer break.

However, before they can get to that, they must first take their final tests. Fair, it isn't like the mind-raping finals in high school. Most of the tests actually just cover the final few weeks of material. The distinguishing thing about the tests was that they were worth more. That's all.

The day before the test, Harry and Kayla (who asked her parents the night before, knowing that Steven was going to ask her) followed Jordan and Steven to their house so they can study. Again, it wasn't super-serious-studying-hour. It was asking general questions about the material and hanging out.

Jordan kept everyone in good spirit while studying. Steven knew every single answer. Harry was the calming one somehow. Kayla was the girl. Every group of four needs a girl if possible. She was the verbal ironic one of the group. Before it was over, everyone learned something new except Steven, who probably was dumb down by the group he joked. Jordan and Steve walked Harry home first (the sun was setting and the Maxwell mom insisted that they travel as a group).

When Harry walked into the house, he was amazed that Dudley was sitting on the sofa with a textbook. Clearly, he as angry about it as Harry was amused by it. Vernon, once again resting in his chair with his newspaper and cup of tea, nodded at Harry and went back to reading. Harry returned to his cupboard. He was going to go to bed early because he already had supper over at the Maxwell's. An hour later, there was a knock on his door that woke him up.

"Come to dinner." Petunia ordered. Harry was so tired, he had forgotten to undress so he just got up and walked to the kitchen. It was then when Harry noticed something strange. Petunia and Vernon had gone back to talking at meals, but Dudley no longer was eating like a barbarian. Not only that, but it looks like he's lost a few pounds. He looked drained, actually.

Dudley finished last and volunteered to do dishes. Stifling a yawn, he picked up the glasses and plates and placed them into the sink to be washed. Harry returned to bed, hoping to get some sleep for the test tomorrow. Dudley getting get that luxury. He ended up staying up a full hour after he normally goes to bed because his father wanted him to study.

**The Next Day**

Second to last day of the school year, and one that left many students annoyed. Many of them can almost feel summer vacation as the school year comes to a close so having to take several tests on the day always felt cheap to them. No matter, today, everyone went to their respective classrooms with number #2 pencils, sat down, and got quiet.

Class by class, teachers passed out their tests. Some were easy; some were hard; and some were near impossible. Harry's final test had questions that weren't even discussed in class as far as Harry remembered. No matter, he breezed through his tests, with only Steven outpacing him by the end of the day. It wasn't that Harry was getting them all right, but he went through them quickly, that's all.

Dudley, amazing, was the third person to finish the final test of the day. Normally, he's one of the last few kids to turn in a test. Whether or not that was due to laziness on his part, or if he was really struggling on the test, is another question altogether. He was tired, everyone could see it on his face. He didn't have the confidence Harry had that day, he was sure he didn't get pass a C.

When the final bell rang, no one really rushed out the door. Many were mentally drained. Harry, Kayla, Jordan, and Steven met outside the school like always and walked to the same tree they walk to everyday before going each their own separate way home. When Harry arrived home, the Dursleys were sitting at the dining table. Petunia and Vernon were smiling and talking to Dudley, who looked confused.

Vernon saw Harry at the door and waved him over, "Boy, Dudley's been accepted to go to Smeltings!" Smeltings was the private school Vernon went to.

"That's great Dudley!" Harry was halfway to being genuinely happy for him. But Dudley just teased him.

"And you're going to _Stonewall_." Dudley grinned. Stonewall High was the public school. Not that there was anything seriously wrong with the school, but the fact that it was public was enough to make Dudley laugh. _Haha, I'm going to a private school and you're not!_

"We're taking you to get you're uniform in a few weeks," Petunia smiled. She got up and hugged her son and began crying, "Ah, you're growing up so fast!"

Harry smiled and went to his own room under the stairs to leave the Dursley's alone to celebrate.

Harry, Steven, Jordan, and Kayla hung out over the weekend by the tree where Dudley and his gang use to hang out. Dudley was over at Piers house at the moment with a few others guys.

"He's up to something," Steven mused.

"What makes you think that, Steven?" Jordan asked.

Steven tilted his head up and started at the clouds, wishing it doesn't rain tonight, "Because it's Dudley."

"That doesn't really mean anything," Kayla laughed, "What could he do to Harry?"

Steven shrugged and turned to Harry, "What has Dudley been up to lately?"

Harry thought it over. "Dudley really hasn't left the house as much lately. Not just because my uncle had him studying for the longest time either. Piers and Dudley hardly acknowledge each other, so I thought they got into an argument. But why is Dudley over at Piers?"

"Steven! You're getting people paranoid! _Relax_," Jordan punched his brother playfully in the shoulder, "Besides, no one can beat up Harry!"

As if on cue, Dudley came walking down the street with Piers. They weren't alone. Dennis Tanner, Malcolm Bloom, and Gordon Flash were with them. Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon had two things in common. They were idiots, and they were bigger than Dudley (who was losing weight because of his diet).

In a gang where asskicking use to equal authority, Dudley must've been surprised. He wasn't as strong through brute strength these days, but there was something else about him that made him a natural leader. Steven grinned.

"Told ya."

Dudley spearheaded the group and shouted to Harry, "Get over here!" Harry listened and did what Dudley said. Immediately, the new gang circled Harry and Dudley. Steven and Jordan looked at each other, then looked at Kayla, all three nodded and were gone before Dudley even noticed.

"Your so-called "friends" ditched you!" Dudley reported.

Harry shrugged, "It happens."

_Two minutes_.

"Well, I hope you know that I'm not going to let you win! You ambushed me the last time and that's why you won!"

That wasn't the truth, but Harry was in no mood to begin the fight early. "Yeah...it did happen like that, didn't it?"

"Oh yeah! Wait….did you agree?" Dudley grimaced. Harry was supposed to deny that it was an ambush (because it wasn't). What was he playing at?

_One minute_.

"Anyway," Dudley continued, "We're settling this one-on-one! Right now!"

_Thirty-seconds. Lets get started._

"How about we just do one?"

Before Dudley could ask Harry what he meant by "just do one", Harry sent his own fist careening into his own face. The next twenty-five seconds was Harry steadily punching himself in the face with all his might. Then, he feigned a cough (which everyone there knew was fake), and dramatically fell to the ground.

"What just happened, boss?" Malcolm asked scratching his enormous head.

"I don't know…" Dudley was very confused at this point. He poked Harry's ribs with his foot, "Harry?"

"YOU! ALL OF YOU! DON'T MOVE!"

Dudley's heart sank, he recognized that voice. The five turn to face the woman who was demanding they don't move; it was Miss Maxwell, "I know every single one of your parents and I'm going to call them!"

"Miraculously", Harry muttered as he got himself off the ground. The circle around him evaporated and Miss Maxwell rushed over to check to see if his injuries were serious. (They weren't, but still looked painful).

Steven, Kayla, and Jordan were following Miss Maxwell. Harry looked at Steven, who merely nodded. The plan worked. Steven, being the genius that he is, figured out the time it takes to get from the tree back to his house. From there, they created this plan in case Dudley reared his head again.

Moments later, everyone was at #4 Privet Drive. Maxwell's mom was telling Vernon what she saw when she arrived, and what her sons told her. No one told her that Harry went and beat himself up. They told her that the gang surrounded him and that they rushed back home to get help.

Vernon was visibly angry. He was also very confused and demanded that everyone go home and that Dudley and Harry go to their rooms until things can be sorted out. Minutes after everyone went home, Vernon yelled for Dudley and Harry to come to the living room. Petunia sat on the couch. Vernon sat in his own chair and his face was several shades of red.

"I….want….story….NOW!" He yelled.

Dudley went first, "Harry went and beat his own self up! My friends and I were trying to help him!"

Harry went next, "I was with my friends at the tree and that's when Dudley and his gang showed up and they started to beat me up. My friends went and got help."

Which story sounds more believable to a person who wasn't there? Needless to say, Dudley was sent to his room without dinner. But, this _was _the Dursley house after all, and Harry was sent to his room as well as punishment. Vernon went to Dudley's room, patted him on the back, and said "Good job on the test."

* * *

Ok, back in the night where Dumbledore left the James's Warhammer40k suitcase back with Harry, something strange happened with the spell. Originally, the spell was meant just to lock the suitcase until Harry's 11th birthday. But, a one in a billion chance of the spell becoming self aware. Luckily for the self-aware spell, Dumbledore is a powerful wizard and the amount of power put into the suitcase to keep it locked and impervious was a lot. Over the years, the self-aware spell was influenced by the Warhammer material and one day, it used a ton of its energy to produce two decades of Warhammer things in the suitcase. It used so much energy in fact, that the suitcase was unlocked because of it.

At this point, Chaos _is _real. So are the other things, but Chaos especially. And right now, they're trying their best to increase their power. That's why the individual figurines influenced, talked to, and soon will, move, on their own.


	5. The Letters From No One

Guys. I've missed you guys so much. A lot has happened these past few weeks and I've sadly neglected this fanfic. I've been working on two-three other writing projects, plus school just started up and I got a lot of stuff to do after school. I'm back to work on it now though!

Good news! I've got a few weeks worth of updates and I plan on updating _every Wednesday_. Until "mid-season" break (I'll let y'all know when that's near.)

Bad news? This chapter is largely basic stuff. Mostly for the people who haven't read HP but know Warhammer. Is that to say that there isn't anything new? Of course not. There's some things going on with the suitcase, especially near the end. But its not a lot.

But soon, it will no longer be basic stuff because I'm diverging from the story _hard _in a few chapters from now.

**For the people who don't want to read the basic stuff here, go to the very end!**

I'm going to answer all the questions I've gotten these past few days. So, that's cool, hmm?

On a different note, I'm surprised that I haven't lurked this site that much. I only have to favorited stories. Of course, Shinji and Warhammer40k.

But there's another story, which I like a lot but isn't as popular (mainly due to the somewhat obscure fiction its based on). It's written by my writing partner/best friend and right now, let me introduce you guys to the shameless plug of Through Violent Eyes!

.net/s/5110674/1/

I like it. =)

(PS. Is it just me or is the spacing strange? If it bothers you guys a lot, tell me. I didn't do anything, just copied and pasted it from Word like always but it just feels off).

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The Letters from No One**

It's been a month since school let out. Dudley is no longer grounded. He had gotten all A's and B's on his tests, plus one C. Harry got all A's and B's, but less A's than Dudley. One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform while Harry was allowed to go over to his friends' house for the day. Harry was happy because the alternative was that he would have to go over to Mrs. Figg's house.

That evening when Dudley tried on and paraded around in his uniform was the first time Harry noticed that Dudley was smaller. The boy was still large, but not as large. The diet must've been working, albeit, slowly. A knobby stick came with the uniform. Apparently, students would hit each other with them while teachers weren't looking as it was apparently training for later in life.

_How _it was training was anyone's guess. Even Vernon couldn't give an answer when Dudley asked. Still, Dudley liked the stick and carried it everywhere on him. The next morning, Harry walked into the kitchen to be greeted by a strange, foul smell. Aunt Petunia stood at the sink, her arms emerged into a tub of gray water.

"What is this?" Harry asked.

"Your Stonewall uniform."

"Oh, I didn't know it was supposed to be _wet_."

"Don't be silly, I'm dying some of Dudley's old clothes for you."

"Aunt Petunia?"

"Hmm?"

Harry bit his lip before asking the question anyone else in his position would've asked, "Aren't his clothes a bit _big _on me?"

She pursed her lips, "What does that mean?"

"Dudley-" Harry carefully phrased the rest of the sentence, "Was more muscular than I am."

"Oh," she said, "No, you'll be fine."

Elephant skin was Harry's first impression when looking at the dirty rags in the tub of water. By now, he wasn't surprised that he was receiving more clothes that were once Dudley's. Hopefully, at the rate Dudley was losing weight, it won't be such an issue in the future.

Vernon and Dudley walked into the kitchen with their noses wrinkled because of the smell radiating from the sink. Vernon sat at the table and opened up the newspaper while Dudley banged the table once with the Smelting stick that he had grown accustomed to quickly. There was a _click _and the sound of letters flopping to the ground. The mail had arrived.

"Dudley, go get the mail," Vernon said.

"Make Harry go get it!"

"Fine, Harry go get the mail!"

"Make Dudley get it!"

Aunt Petunia sensed that this could go on for a long time, "Harry, just go get the mail."

Harry groaned and went and got the mail. There were three letters. A letter from Vernon's sister, Marge. A envelope that probably contained bills and…a letter for Harry?

He stared at that. Who would be writing to him? His friends? No, Harry could talk to them any time. He didn't belong to a library, so there was no way this was a request for books.

**Mr. H. Potter**

**The Cupboard under the Stairs**

**4 Privet Drive**

**Little Whinging**

**Surrey**

Thick, heavy, made of yellow parchment, no envelop, and an address written in emerald ink. The mysterious letter was now even more mysterious. His hands trembled and he turned the envelope over. There was a colt of arms with an eagle, badger, snake, and lion surrounding a large letter _H_.

"Where's the mail, Harry?" Vernon shouted from the kitchen.

"Probably checking for bombs…." Dudley joked.

"Or planting them." Petunia suggested.

Harry went back to the kitchen and handed everything that wasn't addressed to him to Uncle Vernon. He himself sat down with the letter and had begun to rip open the envelope and when shouted, "Harry's got mail!"

Just before Harry could unfold the letter, it was jerked out of his hand by his Uncle.

"Seriously, that's _mine_!" said Harry, who was actually trying to grab it out of Vernon's hands.

"Who would be writing to you? Vernon asked. He opened the letter and soon, his red face became sickly green, to grayish white, "Petunia!" he gasped.

Dudley had tried to take the letter for himself but Vernon held it high out of his reach. Vernon handed it to Petunia who read the first line, and she begun to sway in spot as if she was about to faint.

"Vernon!"

"Really guys, who can yell each other's names all day but I want my letter!"

"I want to read the leader!" Dudley grabbed his stick and tapped his father on the head with it.

"What you both can do is get out!" shouted Vernon, stuffing the letter back into the envelope. Harry stood his ground.

"I WANT THAT LETTER!" He roared.

"Let _me _see it!" demanded Dudley.

"GET OUT!" Vernon barked. He grabbed Harry and Dudley by their shirt collars and threw them out of the kitchen into the hall, slamming the door behind them. Harry and Dudley had a short fight over who would listen through the keyhole. Harry won because Dudley had left his stick in the kitchen. Dudley laid on the ground listening through the crack between door and floor.

"Vernon, look at the address. They know where he sleeps! Are they watching the house?"

"Watching, spying, hell, maybe following us…." Vernon muttered.

"What should we do? Tell them to leave us alone?"

A long pause. Vernon thought about it before answering, "No. We will ignore it. If they don't get an answer, they'll leave us alone…."

"That's what _normal _people would do though…."

Harry and Dudley were sent to their rooms for the day. Vernon knocked quickly on Harry's door. The first thing Harry asked when he opened the door was, "Where's my letter?"

"I burned it. It was addressed to the wrong person."

"Uncle Vernon, you're more civilized than that. _Burning _letters now? Then again, maybe it was meant to the Harry Potter that lives on _Five _Privet Drive. He lives under the cupboard as well….which it was clearly addressed to."

"Hush boy! About the cupboard, you're moving. Grab you're stuff. You're too big for this room and we're giving you Dudley's second bedroom."

"Thank you?"

"Your welcomed."

"Wait a minute, why am I-"

"Just do it!" He barked and left Harry to gather his stuff, including suitcase.

The Dursleys had four bedrooms. One for Vernon and Petunia. One for visitors. One where Dudley slept. And one for storage of Dudley's stuff. Toys, TVs, and other things that no longer fit in Dudley's room were placed into the second bedroom. Actually, everything that was Dudley's and _broken _was thrown into this room. It only took one trip for Harry to move all his stuff into his new room.

Dudley complained, but Vernon wasn't having any of it and told Dudley to play over Piers. In the middle of the night, Harry awoke and first thing, locked the door. It was, afterall, the first time he slept somewhere where the door was lockable from the inside, not outside.

He had hidden the Warhammer40k suitcase under the bed. Harry pulled it and laid it on his bed. After opening it, he began to pull out the figurines. The Chaos Space Marine and Imperium Space Marine were still snug in his backpack's pocket. While Harry admired the Imperium and Chaos, it wasn't like the other races didn't interest him.

Harry grabbed figurines of the Eldars and Dark Eldars. The Fall of the Eldar Empire brought about and was caused by the birth of the Chaos God, Slaanesh. The Eldar since then had changed, but the Dark Eldars maintain their old ways while at the same time, still challenging Slaanesh.

The Tyranids were a different beast. For starters, they work on the hive mind system. And they have no qualms with sending lesser troops in waves to drain the enemy of ammunition before sending in their top men. They didn't aim to conquer. They wanted to devour the galaxy.

The Tau's idea of "the Greater Good" interested Harry. Unlike the Tyranids, every person was their own. However, an individual would make sacrifices if it meant for the betterment of the Tau race.

The Necrons are possibly one of the most powerful forces in the galaxy. Their average foot soldiers were armed with weapons that could take out a light tank and heavily armored troops. They were a fearsome sight to behold. They weren't that interesting to Harry.

The Orks on the other hand, were. Their effective battle plan relied on the idea of low-tech, more dakka, lots of Orks rampaging to the target. Their weapons only work correctly in their hands. Give a human won of the makeshift weapons used by an Ork and it will suffer from so many mechanical problems that it would be useless. However, the same weapon in the hands of the Orks will work correctly every time.

Harry messed around with the figurine for twenty-minutes before placing them back in his suitcase. Then, he took the marines out of his backpack and placed them inside the suitcase. After sliding the suitcase back under his bed, he unlocked the door and went back to the bed. Harry had another strange dream that night, but couldn't remember it at all the next morning. Well, he remembered a part about a Chaos Space Marine, Eldar woman, a Space Marine, and Ork all hanging out in some kid's room just shooting the breeze ignoring one another's inherit hate for one another.

The next morning was like the previous morning. When the mail arrived, it was Dudley's turn to get it. No one thought anything about it until Dudley came down the hallway, banging his Smelting stick on the wall as he came shouting, "There's another one here for Harry! To Mr. H. Potter, Smallest Bedroom-"

Before Dudley could finish, Harry and Vernon had dog piled him trying to get the letter. After short but confused fighting that resulted with anyone beating struck with the Smelting stick several times, Vernon had won the letter and ordered both boys to their rooms.

That night, Harry came up with a plan. The next morning, he awoke early, before any of the Dursleys normally get up, and snuck downstairs. He was going to wait at the corner of Privet Drive for the mailman and grab the letter for himself. Luck wasn't on his side. In the dark, Harry didn't see Vernon asleep in front of the door and accidentally stepped on him.

There was much yelling, and Harry was again sent to his room. _Three _letters arrived and wore torn and burned promptly. Not only that, but Vernon missed a day of work to nail shut the mail slot, using the logic that if the mailman can't deliver mail, he would leave.

For a full day, the idea seemed full proof until the next morning when _twelve _letters were stuffed through the cracks in the door, and windows. Another day off from work, and every single damn crack in the house was boarded.

The next day, _twenty-four _letters had someone snuck themselves in the house through carton of eggs and other places. The letters were rounded up, and once again burned. This was a Saturday.

The next day was seemingly the best day Vernon had in years. It was Sunday. "No mail….no mail….no _damn _mail…." He muttered all day. To show the world that God does indeed think this is all funny, letters began flying out of the fireplace from the chimney, forty in all. Harry tried but Vernon had already grabbed Harry and Dudley and through them out into the hallway (that damn hallway!).

"That is it! Pack your bags and be next to the car in five minutes!" No one argued. He was severely pissed at this point. Harry only needed his suitcase from under his bed. Petunia and Harry were in the car three minutes before Dudley was. Apparently, he was held up because he was trying to bring along his VCR, TV, and computer. Vernon smacked him in the back of the head.

* * *

(Going in order from newest review with suggestion/question, to oldest one I haven't seen).

1. The crush? Actually, there's a reason why I left it so obscure and small right now. But I ain't going to ruin the surprise.

2. Harry won't be starting a cult. But I already know who will. Thanks for the question though, I have plans for all of that, but not until the future.

3. I don't know who will be intune with chaos, or how much right now. Maybe somebody will be more than Harry, I haven't decided yet.

4. Its....4th edition? 4th or 5th. I can't remember right now. Yes, I know that those are _after _the story date. There's a reason for that.

5. It wasn't a question, but to make it clear, I love the movie Jumanji.

6. Who will be the Space Marines? I know....y'all find out later. (Sadly later than sooner).

7. Models won't grow to full size. But they will grow in importance in another sense. The plot point is going to run even with the Stone portion of the series.

8. If you guys have any more questions, I will answer them. Just leave me a review and I'll answer your questions. I'm really am shocked about how many views I'm getting on this and how much support as well. Thank you!


	6. Diagon Alley

RAWR!!! I HATE the spacing. I don't know _why _its doing that. I promised an update this week and damn it, I came through! I already have a feeling I"m going to get some strange reviews for this one. Trust me, I know what I'm doing. =)

And like always, response to comments below.

Oh, I love you Megan. =P

**

* * *

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**Diagon Alley**

Harry was having a strange dream. The figurines from the Warhammer game were moving around. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but it sounded strange. Then, there were more figurines, and more. And the white void started to form.

Standing planet side, Harry watched as Imperium Space Marines battled the Forces of Chaos. The Imperium was losing, even Harry could see that. Chaos would win another battle in the endless line of battles. Then, out of nowhere, the familiar giant known as Hagrid appeared on the horizon. But he was bigger, much bigger. He towered over all the other troops and was carrying a heavy gun, firing onto the Chaos Space Marines.

TAP, TAP, TAP!

Harry stirred but lay motionless. The dream was over and Petunia was knocking on his door to wake him up. The giant, the moving figurines, everything was a dream. A good one at that.

TAP, TAP, TAP!

Harry sat up; the heavy coat falling off him as he did so. It wasn't a dream. The giant, Hagrid, was fast asleep on the destroyed sofa. More tapping and Harry turned to a window. A small brown owl was pecking at the window with a newspaper in its beak. Harry opened the window and let the owl it flew in a circle above Hagrid before dropping the newspaper onto his stomach.

It was cool until the damn owl swooped down on the Hagrid's coat still beside Harry and began to attack it.

"Hagrid! The bird's attacking you coat!"

"Give him five Knuts."

"Excuse me?"

"Knuts, little bronze coins. They're inside….yeah….you have it, in that pocket right there."

Harry pulled out a handful of coins of various sizes of and colors. Carefully picking out five bronze ones, he paid the owl by placing the coins into a small leather pouch tied to its leg. Content, the owl flew out the window. Few minutes later, Hagrid got out off the sofa, yawned and stretched, and turned to Harry, "Time to get going. We got to get your school supplies."

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose, "With what money? My uncle has already said that he's not paying for my supplies."

Hagrid grinned, "You couldn't buy anything with their money anyway. No, your parents left you behind enough cash to last you quite some time. We just got to go to the bank and-"

"Wizards have banks?"

"Yes. Gringotts is the one we're heading to."

"Gringotts?"

"Yes, the one ran by goblins, so you'll be crazy to try to break into it."

"Oh…." Harry picked up Hagrid's coat and was just handing it to him when a realization hit Harry like a brick wall, "Wait, goblins?"

"Yes, goblins. That's why you would have to be crazy to break in. Gotta head that way anyway, Official Hogwarts business."

The two ate breakfast, which was more sausage. The Dursleys were no where to be seen but Harry guessed that all three of them were hiding in the bedroom until the giant left.

After breakfast was finished, Hagrid asked, "Got everything?"

Harry picked up the metal suitcase and patted it, "Now I do."

Hagrid's jaw drop, "That reminds me! You should be able to open it now. Professor Dumbledore put a spell on it and whatnot."

"Its open already."

"Well, you don't seem too surprised, Harry."

"Its been open for a few months now."

Hagrid scratched his beard, this was interesting, "Oh, how do you like it?"

"I love it. Its nice you know because-"Harry paused and looked away. It was the only thing that connected him to his dad. Hagrid patted Harry on the back.

"Its alright."

Together, with Harry carrying the suitcase and Hagrid putting back on his coat, they left the shack and onto the rocks where a boat was "docked". The bottom was filled with water from the previous night's rain and would need to be drained out.

"There's only one boat here. How did you get here?" Harry asked.

"Flew."

"You _flew_?"

"Yes, but we'll go back in this. Not s'pposed to use magic now I got yeh."

"How are they supposed to get back to land?" Harry pointed to the shack, "We couldn't just leave them stranded."

"Well, maybe a lil' magic can't hurt." Hagrid pulled a small pink umbrella from his coat pocket and tapped the boat once to clear out the water, and a second time. He then climbed into the small wooden boat and Harry was amazed that it held him. Harry carefully climbed into the boat, but it didn't even as much as buoy as he stepped in.

Hagrid tapped the boat a third time, and soon, it was speeding off to land. It was still a good time away, and Harry's head was filled with questions, "Why would you be crazy to rob the bank?"

"First, it's a hundred miles under London. Second, there's so many spells and enchantments in it that….that….there's a lot of spells guarding it Harry. Oh, and there's dragons."

"Pardon?" Harry's jaw dropped.

"Yes, there are dragons too."

Hagrid unfolded the newspaper, the _Daily Prophet_, which was delivered earlier by the owl.

"The Ministry is messin' up things as usual," Hagrid muttered.

"Ministry?"

"Of Magic. They wanted Dumbledore as Minister but he would never leave Hogwarts. So, they got this old bloke, Cornelius Fudge to do it. He's….incompetent and pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning askin' for advice."

"And what does the Ministry of Magic do?"

"Their main job is to keep our world a secret."

"Why?"

"Why? Well, if you tell Muggles that there's a magical solution to many of their problems, and they'll be tearing down your door asking for favors."

At that moment, the boat bumped into the harbor wall. Hagrid folded up the newspaper and got off the boat first, followed by Harry with the suitcase. Hagrid worked magic once again with the umbrella and tapped the boat twice and soon, it was speeding back into the direction they had come.

They had arrived to a small town that, luckily, had a station. Now, if you're the size of a car, you will attract the attention of passersby. Harry didn't blame them for staring and it didn't help that Hagrid kept pointing out the most mundane things to be fascinated by such as parking meters.

When they actually arrived to the station, it was Harry who paid for the trip. Hagrid handed him a handful of cash because he wasn't so good with "Muggle Money".

When they were finally on the train, Hagrid leaned over to Harry, "Still have you letter?"

Harry's heart sunk. The last time he seen it was last night, lying on the floor beside him. Harry couldn't remember what he done with it.

"Hagrid, did I place it in your pockets by mistake?"

Hagrid searched his many pockets, but didn't come up with the letter. Harry was about to panic. He opened the suitcase.

Lo and behold, the letter was right there. The Chaos Space Marine lied atop of it. Harry pushed the Marine off to the side and cringed. It was warm and the material felt…strange. Harry touched it again, nothing, it was plastic.

"The letter, Harry?"

"Oh," Harry grabbed the letter and slammed shut the suitcase, "Right here."

"Good, there's a list of everything you'll need."

Harry unfolded a second piece of paper he hadn't noticed and read:

**HOGWARTS**** SCHOOL**

_Of _**WITCHCRAFT **_and _**WIZARDRY**

**UNIFORM**

First-year students will require:

Three sets of plain work robes (black)One plain pointed hat (black) for day wearOne pair or protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags

**COURSE BOOKS**

All Students should have a copy of each of the following:

_The Standard Book of Spells_ (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk

_A History of Magic _by Bathilda Bagshot

_Magical Theory _by Adalbert Waffling

_A Beginners' Guide to Transfigurations _by Emeric Switch

_One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi _by Phyllida Spore

_Magical Drafts and Potions _by Arsenius Jigger

_Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them _by Newt Scamander

_The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection _by Quentin Trimble

**OTHER EQUIPMENT**

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

"Can you even _buy _this stuff in London?" Harry asked.

"If you know where to look."

If you're like Harry and never been to London before, you will probably feel the same way Harry did that moment. The city was beautiful and you was often reminded that you were in the capital of an Empire that at its height, had 1/3 of the world's population under its mighty thumb. Harry didn't have time for sightseeing because Hagrid was leading the way. He knew where he was going, but didn't seem used to getting there the "ordinary" way. He even got stuck in the ticket barrier on the Underground and complained often about the small seats and slow trains.

Traveling with Hagrid did have its perks. For one, the crowds parted easily to the man _who could crush them in his grip_. They passed by book shops, music stores, restaurants, theatres and cinemas. At no point did Harry see a place that would indicate that it was possible to buy a magical wand or even a newspaper delivering owl.

"And here we are, the Leaky Cauldron. Quite a famous place."

It was a tiny, run-down looking pub. So unnoticeable that Harry would've passed it by if Hagrid didn't point it out. Hagrid quickly steered Harry inside.

The inside was like the outside. Very dark and very shabby. A couple of old women sat in a corner drinking, one of them smoking a long pipe. There was a small man talking to the old bartender who had the misfortune of being toothless and bald. Everyone waved and smiled at Hagrid, apparently, he was popular around here.

"Whose the kid?" The bartender asked.

Harry held out his hand, "Well, my name is-"

"Wait a minute!" The bartender leaned closer to look at Harry, "You're….you're-"

"Harry Potter!" Someone shouted.

Soon, a few dozen of the pub's patrons were swarming on Harry faster than Harry had time to blink. They shook his hand, smiled, clapped, and every bit of strangeness.

"Doris Crockford. I can't believe I'm seeing you with my own eyes!"

"Proud to meet you, Mr. Potter."

"Always wanted to shake your hand!"

"Delighted, just can't tell you. Diggle, Dedalus Diggle, is my name!"

"I met you before!" Harry remarked, "You bowed to me once in a shop!"

"He remembers!"

Harry shook everyone's hands, some more than once. Especially Doris Crockford.

Then there was a pale man. One of his eyes twitched and he wore a turban, something Harry has never seen before.

"P-P-Potter!" He stammered as he grasped the boy's hand, "C-c-can't tell you h-h-how pleased I am to meet you!"

Hagrid introduced the man to Harry, "Professor Quirrell, Harry Potter. Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at the school."

"What magic do you teach, Professor?" Harry asked.

"D-Defense Against the Dark Arts," he muttered. "Not that you need it, eh Potter?" He joked. "You'll be getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new book on vam-vam-vampires myself." He looked terrified for a moment, but quickly returned to his normal "nervous" face.

The others weren't about to let the Professor keep Harry to himself and it was a full ten minutes before Hagrid and Harry got away.

"Well! Time to hit the dusty trail! Time to go Harry," Hagrid said. Doris shook Harry's hand one last time and soon, Hagrid had lead Harry to a small walled courtyard overgrown with weeds.

"Told you were famous," Hagrid remarked, "Even Quirrel was trembling to meet you. Then again, he's always like that."

"How come?

"He's a brilliant guy but one year, he decided to get first-hand experience on a subject. They he met vampires in the Black Forest and got himself in some trouble with a hag. Never been the same since. Scared of the students and his own subject. Now, where's my umbrella?" Hagrid reached into his pocket and pulled out the umbrella and tapped the wall.

"Three up, two across, "He muttered, "Alright, stand back."

He tapped the wall three times with the umbrella. The brick he touched quivered and a small hole appeared in the center of the wall. It grew wider and wider and a second later, an archway large enough for Hagrid opened up leading to a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley!" said Hagrid.

Harry was amazed. They stepped through the archway and as soon as Hagrid got his last foot past the wall, it had sealed itself once more. It was an amazing place. Across the road from the archway was a store where dozens of cauldrons were stacked. Copper, brass, pewter, silver, self-stirring, collapsible was what the sign said.

"You'll be needing one of those, but we gotta get you some money first."

Like in London, Harry found himself amazed and wished he could just explore. The people, the items, the people, it was all new and interesting to Harry. From a distance, Harry could hear a woman complain. "….dragon liver for sixteen Sickles an ounce! They're mad…."

From one dark shop Harry could hear the familiar sounds of hooting of owls. Hagrid and Harry passed a group of boys who were captivated by a broomstick hanging in the window, "Nimbus Two Thousand, fastest ever they say!" said one boy.

There were stores for all sort of amazing things. Robes, telescopes, strange silver things, barrels of bat spleens and eel eyes (for whatever reason), piles of spell books, quills, parchment, bottles, globes of the moon, everything!

Finally, the reached the end of the street. A white building towered over all the little shops. A small man stood beside the bronze doors wearing a uniform of red and gold.

"Gringotts, and yes, that's a goblin."

"Wow," Harry mused.

They passed the goblin on their way into bank. The goblin just bowed and remained silent. Two more goblins bowed to them as they passed through another set of doors, these silver. Harry and Hagrid found themselves standing in a vast marble hall where hundreds of goblins were sitting on stools behind counters scribbling on paper and weighing coins on scales. Some were even examining very rare and beautiful gemes through eyeglasses. There were so many doors leading off from the hall that it was impossible for Harry to count. Yet, more goblins were showing people around. Hagrid and Harry went to the nearest available counter.

"Good morning," Hagrid greeted, "We're here to make a withdrawal from Mr. Potter's safe."

The goblins scratched his chin with a long finger, "I assume you have the key?"

"Yes, I have it….right….hold on." Hagrid started to pull out strange objects from his pocket. Soon, he was handing the key to the goblin to inspect, "I also have to go to Vault 713 to get You-Know-What."

The goblin smiled, his teeth were slightly pointed, "Ah, yes. All seems to be in order. Griphook!"

Another goblin arrived seconds after the call. Hagrid and Harry followed him out the door leading to another wall. He was several paces ahead, with Harry walking beside Hagrid.

"What's You-Know-What?" Harry whispered.

"Can't tell you that, Hogwarts business."

The way Hagrid answered dissuaded Harry from following up on it. Every step they took made the suitcase feel heavier in Harry's hand, so he switched it to the other one. They reached the end of the wall and Griphook held the door open for them. The stone walls with that was lit with torches past the door stood in shark contrast to the marble hall with candles they were currently in. If felt like a mine; especially with the railroad tracks and the mining cart that raced up to greet them.

All three climbed in. They sat in the cart for a minute before Griphook looked startled, "It's not moving?"

"What's going on?" Harry asked.

Griphook tapped the cart a few times but nothing happened.

"Ok, everyone out of the cart, this one may just be broken or something," Griphook said as he climbed out. Hagrid climbed out second and finally, Harry. "Let me get that for you." Griphook took the suitcase from Harry's hands as he climbed out. He cringed for a moment, but no one noticed.

"On second thought, get back in. It should work now."

Hagrid frowned, "Make up yer mind, eh?"

They climbed back in. When they were all finally back in the cart, Griphook handed the suitcase back to Harry. He tapped the cart and sent it speeding down the tracks.

Hagrid was right; robbing the joint would be hard. There were so many twists and turns, so many tracks that lead to dozens of different areas with hundreds of different Vaults that it would be impossible to truly find one way's out, even if they were somehow able to find the Vault. It was freezing cold down here as well.

They plunged deeper, passing an underground lake.

"What's the difference between a stalactite and stalagmite, Hagrid?"

"One has an 'm' in it. Please don't ask me questions right now, I feel sick!" said Hagrid. His face was turning slightly green. As quickly as it begun, it was over, the cart came to a quick s top in front of a small door in a rocky wall. Hagrid was the first one out, quickly making it to the nearest wall to find his strength.

Griphook got out after Harry. While Griphook unlocked the door with the key, he said, "I think stalactites grow from the ceiling."

Before Harry said anything, the door opened. Slowly, _very slowly_.

"No way…"

"Yes, Harry. It is."

"What?" Griphook asked.

Harry pointed into the vault at the nearest mound of gold coins, "That was all my parents' money!?"

"Yep. The gold ones are Galleons, silver ones Sickles, and bronze ones Knuts. Galleons are seventeen Sickles and Sickles are twenty-nine Knuts," he scooped a scooped a lot of coins into a bag, "Right, that should be enough."

"Wait, seventeen? twenty-nine? Do you guys _like _making this difficult?" Harry rubbed the back of his head with his free hand. Hagrid handed the bag of money to Harry and he slid it into his pockets.

"You'll get use to it. Vault 712 now. And can we go slower this time around?"

"One speed only," Griphook grinned.

The one speed thing was false. They were now going _faster _than they were earlier. It got colder as they got deeper. They passed over a ravine and finally screeched to a halt at the Vault. This one had no keyhole.

"Stand back," Griphook ordered. He stroked the door with one finger and the door just melted away.

"If anyone else tried that, they would be sucked through the door and trapped there," Griphook said.

"How often do you check it?"

"Every ten years," Griphook grinned.

For a top security vault, Harry was surprised to see that there was nothing in it but a small brown pouch with an even smaller lump in it. Hagrid grabbed the pouch and slid it quickly into his pocket.

"Ok, back into the cart! And no one talk to me on the way back. I rather keep my mouth shut!"

One cart ride later, they were back in the Main Marble Hall where all the goblins were messing around with the tons of golds and rare gems. Griphook walked the two out, but first pulled Harry to the side.

"Say, that's a heavy suitcase you have there, what are you carrying?"

Harry smiled, "My dad's old board game."

"What kind of board game is that heavy?"

Harry shrugged, "It's a big board game, with lots and rules and such."

"Well, take good care of it then!" Griphook patted Harry on the back, which was difficult giving the small goblin's size, "Please, come and visit anytime."

"I will." Harry said, turned, and left, following Hagrid.

When Harry was out of earshot, Griphook said to himself, "There's something strange about that suitcase…."

"What makes you say that?" Griphook jumped, it was another goblin.

"I don't know. Hey, you might want to get cart #15 checked, couldn't get it to move earlier. Well, I did get it working eventually, but it's just acting strange."

"Maybe there was a pet or something on them. Some kids like to carry their rats and toads in their pockets."

"No, they didn't have any pets."

"That's strange. You, the big one, and the boy were the only people on it, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, I'll get someone to look at it." He shrugged and walked away.

_Yes, there is something very strange about that suitcase_. Griphook thought to himself.

Back onto the Alley, Hagrid tapped Harry on the shoulder, "Well, might as well get your uniform," he said nodding toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "Listen, would you mind if I slipped off for a pick-me-up at the Cauldron? I hate those cart rides."

He certainly looked sick. Harry was sorta nervous about buying his robes by himself, but it wasn't too much a big deal, "Yeah, I'll get it. Take care, Hagrid."

Hagrid smiled and left Harry alone. Harry entered Malkin's shop alone, the suitcase still in hand. Harry was happy though. With the Dursleys, he didn't have a penny to his name. Now, he could feel the weight of the money in his pocket. It didn't take an economist to know that Harry had a small fortune, both Muggle or otherwise, in that vault.

Harry was so lost in thought, he didn't notice the squat, smiling woman until she spoke, "Hogwarts, dear?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"Of course. Well, come over here. We've had a lot students come in for new robes, or their first robes, here this summer. As a matter of fact, we have another young man being fitted up just now."

In the back of shop, there was a pale boy with pointed face standing on a footstole while a woman pinned up his long black robes. Harry placed the suitcase by the door carefully. Madam Malkin stood Harry on the stool next to the boy and slipped a long robe over his head; then she begun to pin it up to the right length.

"Hello. Hogwarts too?"

"Yes."

"My father's buying my books next door and my mother is up the street looking for wands," said the boy. He was bored and had a drawling voice. "Then I'm going to drag them to look at racing brooms. I don't know why first years can't have their own. I think I'm going to bully my father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."

"What's the point of that?" Harry asked.

"Of what?"

"Of smuggling in a racing broom. Unless you only plan on showing it off, there's not much you can do with it, is there?"

The boy thought about it, "Maybe."

"If the teacher's see you with it, they may just confiscate that. All that money spent on it would become pointless."

"Good point."

"So, do you have your own broom?"

"No."

"Play Quidditch at all?"

"Nope." Harry haven't even heard of it.

"I do. Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house and I must agree. Do you know what house you'll be in?"

"Not _yet_," Harry laughed.

The boy laughed with him, "You're right. No one knows until they get there I suppose. But I know that I'll be in Slytherin. Everyone in my family has been in it. Could you _imagine _being sorted into Hufflepuff? I think I would leave right there."

Harry laughed, "It _is _a stupid name."

The boy nodded, "It is, isn't it? Say, look at that man!" said the boy suddenly, nodding toward the front window. Hagrid was standing there with a huge grin on his face pointing at the two large ice creams to show he couldn't in.

"That's Hagrid. He works at Hogwarts."

"Oh, I've heard of him. Servant or something, isn't he?"

"Gamekeeper."

"Yes, exactly. I heard he's a savage. Lives in a hut on the grounds and every now and then, gets drunk and tried to do magic only to set fire to his bed."

Harry shook his head, "And where did you hear that?"

The boy shrugged, "Just things I've heard around."

"Say, it looks like he's waiting for you. Where's your parents?"

"Dead," Harry said shortly.

"I'm sorry," said the boy. He sounded sorta sorry for ruining the good time they were having, "But they were _our _kind, right?"

"You mean magic, right?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

"I really don't think they should the other kind in, do you? They're not the same and weren't brought up to know our ways. Some of them never even heard of Hogwarts until they got the letter. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families-"

"Drat!" shouted Madam Malkin, "Broke the needle. Be right back."

"Well. I didn't hear of Hogwarts either until a day or two ago."

The boy looked at his suspiciously, "I thought you say your parents were a wizard and witch."

"They were."

The boy looked less angry now and more confused, "Then how do you not know anything about Hogwarts?"

"Well, I didn't know _anything _about being a wizard until yesterday."

"Wait, what!?"

"Well. My parents were killed. Hagrid got me that night from the wreckage of my house and dropped off to my mom's sister's family. They lied to me for ten years and told me my parents were killed in a car crash. They were trying to keep the whole thing a secret from me my whole life." Harry said flatly.

"That's a shame. I'm sorry to hear that. Then you got the letter, right?"

"No."

"No?"

"They got the letters in the morning. I got a chance to grab one the first day, but they took it from me before I could read it. For the next week, they burned all the letters. Sometimes in front of me. Then one day, there was so many letters, they took me and my cousin to an island at sea. That's when Hagrid showed up and delivered the letter."

"Sorry for taking so long! I couldn't find the needle box anywhere," Madam Malkin said when she returned.

"Say, what's your surname anyway?" He asked.

"Ok, we're done!" Malkin said. Harry got down off the footstool and turned to the boy.

"My surname is Potter." Harry said and then left, picking up the suitcase as he left. He didn't see the look on the boy's face as he did, or he would've smiled bigger.

* * *

1. I've heard of Thousand Shinji, and I'm probably going to check it out soon. Also, Patronus spells is still a way's off.

2. I'm still trying to think of more cool things for the figurines to do. =)

3. TONKS! How did I forget about Tonks? Given what I did in the past few chapters (which everyone will see in a few weeks) I'm surprised that I haven't mentioned her...

4. I promise Chaos Gods cults by Book 3. Note, this entire "fic" is just going to deal with Book One. I _am _going to do the other books, but they will be in different fics (pretty much, there'll be at _least 7 different fanfics_. It'll be easier to manage and plus, I can see how long each of my own fics are and people can comment on book by book rather than one guy commenting on something from PS and another commenting on HBP)

5. Figurines are gaining movement. They are also each gaining individual setience, especially the (Chaos) Space Marine figurines.

6. I'm on the border of whether or not Harry should be copying his Codexs, given that those things are bought and stuff....but that would mean more wizards shopping with muggles. That might be an interesting Winter chapter.

7. Harry looking into the Mirror of Desire is going to be awesome.

8. The figurines aren't going to grow. =P


	7. Dominic Ellis

Sorry. Updates will be a tad slow for the next month or two. They'll start picking up mid-November however. In other news, I have started another story. An original one at that. The link to that, along with other comments from me, will be at the bottom like always. I appreciate the reviews guys and 5,500 views? This is the first time my work has been seen by so many people (in so many differnt countries at that). Anyway, here's the next chapters of Harry and Warhammer40k!

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**Dom(inic) Ellis**

"Hagrid, what is Quidditch?" Harry asked while eating ice cream on a bench next to Hagrid.

"Blimey! I keep forgetting how much you don't know about the world yet."

"Yeah, thank you. I really needed that."

"Oh, sorry, Harry. It's a sport played on broomsticks. It's sorta hard to explain but you'll quickly figure it out when you get to school."

Harry decided that he wouldn't tell Hagrid about the boy in the Robe Shop. Harry wasn't naïve; the boy said some rather hurtful things.

"And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?"

"Houses. There's four of them. People say that Hufflepuff are a lot of duffers, but-"

"It does _sound _stupid," Harry interjected.

"Well, better Hufflepuff than Slytherin," Hagrid said darkly. "There's not a single person who went bad that wasn't in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one."

"He went to Hogwarts?"

"Sure did. Many years ago."

They arrived to a _cramped _store. Hagrid turned to Harry, "Say, I'm going to get you a pet. You know the books you need, right?" Harry nodded, "Alright, see you in a bit, then."

The store was called Flourish and Blotts. The shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books of every size of every material. Some seemed wasteful, like the book the size of postage stamps covered with silk. To anybody, these books would be interesting reads. Even to the book-hating Dudley.

Harry was about to pick up a book called _Curses and Countercurses _when a boy bumped into him.

"Sorry, sorry!" The boy said. At quick glance, he looked like the boy in the Robe Shop. But as Harry's eyes adjusted, it was clear that it wasn't. This boy was slightly taller, had a thinner face and _wasn't _pale. His blonde hair was darker than the other boy's as well.

He must've had read my mind, because he said, "No, I'm not Mafloy."

"Who?"

"Never mind," he rubbed his forehead, "Long story."

"Oh yeah, my name is Dominic Ellis. Dom for short," he shook Harry's hand.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Harry Potter," Harry braced for a wave of intense handshaking, but instead, Dom nodded.

"Ah, I heard stuff about you, man. So, that means you have the scar, right?" Harry lifted his bangs, "That's awesome!"

"Sorta…."

"Anyway, you're here shopping for books too?" He asked. He looked at the book Harry wanted to pick up. "That doesn't look like required reading," he grinned.

"I know, just wanted it for-"

"I know," Dom smiled, "And no, you can't. Using magic outside the school is an offense that could lead to expulsion."

Harry's jaw dropped, "What?"

Dom nodded, "Until you're seventeen, you're not allowed to perform magic outside the school and you're _never _allowed to perform it in front of a muggle. If you do perform outside the school, you'll be expelled, and your wand snapped."

"Wait, are you telling me that getting expelled means pretty much means-"

"No chance at success whatsoever? Yes. With the muggles, you could drop out and still make a living of some kind. Here? Well, I don't know many get far without finishing school."

Harry sighed, "Well, that's great to know. Thank you Dom."

"Don't mention it. I'm learning this stuff as I go too, starting school this year. Do you know what house you'll be in?"

"No, not yet."

"Ah, well, I want to be in Ravenclaw," he said.

"Ravenclaw?"

"Oh, you're not familiar with the houses, are you?"

Harry shook his head.

"Well Gryffindor is a rather boring house. Personally, it looks like the "stereotypical" good guys in any case. Then there's Slytherin, who are the ambitious ones, which naturally make them evil and bloodsucking people. Hufflepuff is….Hufflepuff. It's a stupid name, but the members are people you can be friends with. They're a loyal and just butch.. Then there's Ravenclaw. We, _they _love knowledge. Ravenclaw tends to have the smartest students in its ranks. Although, you don't have to be a genius to get in, you just want to want to know more. Unlike Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, we're not completely good, nor completely evil."

"In the end, how one uses their knowledge decides what they are." Harry chimed.

Dom smiled, "Yes, you're right. If we decide not to use our knowledge, we're actually the neutral party. Then again, it's up to the individuals. Ravenclaw gets along with everyone." He paused to let his smile grow, "Plus, eagles are awesome. Snakes are corny. That lion-bird freak Gryffindor has is silly and the badger belongs to house with a stupid name!"

"You know, it seems that _everyone _thinks it's a stupid name."

"Who would think it was a good name?"

The two laughed for a bit. "Hey, what's that?" Dom asked, pointing to the suitcase Harry carried.

"A game." Harry replied. He handed the suitcase to Dom. The weight caught him off guard and he dropped it.

"Sorry!"

"Its ok, check it out if you want."

Dom knelt down and opened the suitcase, "Wow! What kind of game is this?"

"It's called Warhammer 40k-"

"There's a lot of books, _reading _books," he flipped through the pages, "With more than just rules in it!"

"Yeah, there is…." Harry was starting to get confused.

He grabbed the books on the Eldar and leafed through it quickly, his eyes glancing over the pages, "You're going to Hogwarts, right?"

"Yes…."

"Can I borrow this then?" He held up the Eldar books and a few of the Eldar figurines, "Promise I'll give it back."

Harry thought it over for a second. Dom didn't seem like the kind of person to outright steal from Harry, and since they're going to meet up anyway…"Go ahead."

"Thank you!" Dom had a huge grin on his face, "I'll take care of it!" The boy checked his (Muggle) wristwatch and sighed, "I got to get going, see ya later."

Harry bought his books after Dom left the store. He left the Book of Curses where it was and caught up with Hagrid outside, who had a present for him.

"Happy birthday, Harry!" He cheered. He was holding a cage in his hands. Inside was a snowy white owl asleep with her head under her wing.

Harry was startled. He had forgotten today was his birthday, "T-t-thank you Hagrid!"

"Don't mention it. Wanted too get you a better gift than a cake," Hagrid said, "Now, lets go get your wand."

"A wand…" Harry let the words roll around in his head. It was what he was looking forward to.

The final shop was narrow, shabby, and had peeling gold letters over the front door that read "Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. A single wand lay on a purple cushion in the window display. A bell rang in the back of the store when they stepped inside. There was nowhere to sit except for a single, spindly chair, which Harry sat on to wait. Harry felt strange. It was quiet, like a library

"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Harry and Hagrid jumped, with Hagrid actually falling out of the chair. An old man stood before them with pale eyes shining through the gloom of the shop.

"H-hello," Harry greeted.

"Ah yes," said the main. "About time I saw you Harry Potter. You have your mother's eyes. It feels like just yesterday when she came in her herself with her new friends, buying a wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy and made of willow. Wonderful for charm work."

"I don't understand." Harry said.

"Understand what?"

"The 'wonderful for charms' part. Does that mean that different material means that the wand is better suited for certain things?"

Ollivander smiled, "Yes. Your father for one, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches and pliable. It had a bit of extra power and was excellent for transfiguration. Well, I shouldn't say your father favored it. The wand chooses the wizard, after all."

Ollivander leaned closer to Harry's face, "Is that where…" He touched the scar on Harry's forehead, "Sorry to say that I sold the wand that did that. Thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Powerful, _powerful_ wand." He sighed, "Sorry about that."

"Isn't your fault," Harry said shortly.

"Rebeus! Nice to see you. Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy wasn't it?"

"It was." Hagrid said.

"Good wand. I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" Ollivander said sternly. Harry quickly glanced at Hagrid. Expelled?

"Yes, they did." Hagrid shuffled to his feet, "I've still got the pieces though."

"You don't _use _them?" Ollivander said sharply.

"No sir," Hagrid quickly said, clutching his umbrella.

"Good. Anyway, which arm is your wand arm?" Ollivander asked Harry.

"Umm….my right?" Harry guessed. It made sense if his wand arm was the one he writes with.

"Hold out your arm. Yeah, like that." He measured Harry's arm from shoulder to finger, wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, and many other crazy variations like that.

He kept talking as he measured. "See, every wand has a core of powerful magical substance. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix feathers, heartstrings of dragons. No two wands are the same just as no two creatures are the same. With that being said, you won't get good results with another wizard's wand."

Ollivander left the tape measure with Harry, which kept measuring while Mr. Ollivander searched the shelves, taking down boxes.

"Ok, that'll do," he said. The tape measure crumpled on the floor. "Right, try this one. Beechwood, dragon heartstring. Nine inches, so it's nice and flexible. Take it and give it a wave."

Harry did as he was told and waved the wand around a bit but Ollivander snatched it out of his hand at once.

"Maple with phoenix feather. Seven inches. Try-"

Harry tried, but Ollivander snatched that one back as well.

"Ebony and unicorn hair, eight and half inches."

Harry tried. A dozen wands later, nothing. Unlike say, a shoe's salesman, instead of getting angry about it, Ollivander was absolutely happy.

"Tricky one? Let's see, holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches. Try."

Harry waved the wand as soon as it was handed to him. Red sparks shot out the end and warmth flowed through his fingers. Ollivander and Hagrid clapped. "Great! Very curious….but great!" Ollivander said.

"What's curious?"

"I remember every wand I've sold. Every single wand. That wand you have came from a phoenix whose gave another feather. Its very curious that you should be destined for a wand whose brother gave you that scar."

Harry gulped.

"Yep. Funny how that happens. I expect great things from you. What's-his-name did great things, terrible, but great nonetheless."

Harry quickly paid seven Galleons for the wand and left the shop. With suitcase in hand (now slightly lighter), they two made their way back to the archway that lead back through the Leaky Cauldron.

Hagrid took Harry back home that night. It was a _boring _ride home on the train, but gave Harry some time to think. He wanted to ask how Hagrid got expelled, but decided it probably wasn't something he should ask if Hagrid hadn't told him himself.

Hagrid handed Harry an envelope.

"Your ticket. Be a King's Cross on September 1. Everything is explained on the ticket. If the Dursleys give you any trouble, send me a letter. Your owl knows where to find me."

Hagrid left Harry at the front door of the Dursleys. The month of August would be….interesting.

**Later that Night**

Harry returned to 4 Privet Drive the night of his birthday. The Dursleys had already returned home just a few hours before Harry returned. Luckily for Harry, they completely ignored him. _Completely_. They set his spot at the table for dinner, but ignored that anyone was there.

Vernon was possibly angry, but just seemed tired. Petunia, which had the strongest distaste for Harry's "kind", didn't even bring her to talk to anyone while Harry was around. Dudley was just scared. The family had received a letter right after Harry left with Hagrid that they should tell their son that he has to keep Harry's gift a secret. Harry went to bed early that night; he planned on going to his friend's house the next day.

**Next Day**

Harry knocked on Steven's door; it was a little before noon. Jordan answered the door, smiled, and gave Harry a long hug.

"Man! Where were you? You weren't at your house at all the past two days! Everything was nailed up."

"We assumed you moved," Steven said coming to the door, "How have you been?"

"Fine," Harry said, "I was out of town for my birthday!"

"Your birthday!?" The brothers shouted in unison.

"Yeah, forgot to tell you guys," Harry said, "It wasn't a big deal."

"Oh Harry, we're sorry! We're going to get you a gift! No, _two _gifts!" Jordan patted Harry on the back, "Least we can do."

"Actually, I was wondering if your mom can do me a favor."

"What is it?" Steven asked.

"I'm going to….a boarding school….this year. So I won't be going to Stonewall," Harry started.

"Sorry to hear that," Jordan said.

"Yeah, but I need someone to drop me off at the train station on September 1. I would ask my Uncle, but he has work and asked me to ask your mom," Harry lied. He didn't want to tell them that Vernon didn't want to take Harry at all.

"Well, I'm sure our mom will do it," Steven said.

"She sure will! Now get inside this house, its hot outside," Jordan pulled Harry inside.

Harry had left the suitcase in his bedroom back at the Dursleys. The thing was lighter and heavier at the same time, which mystified Harry to no end. The three boys spent the entire day inside the house, too hot outside to really do anything. Ms. Maxwell served the boys lunch. By four in the afternoon, Harry was packing up to leave.

"Sure you don't want to stay for dinner, Harry?"

"No, it's alright," Harry said.

**Two Weeks Later**

With two weeks before Harry had to go to King's Cross Station, Harry interrupted the Dursley clan while they were watching TV one summer night.

"Umm, Uncle Vernon?"

Vernon grunted to acknowledge Harry.

"I'll be leaving September 1. My friend's mom will take me to King Cross Station, so you really don't have to worry much about it beyond that," Harry said shortly.

"Fine," Vernon replied in the same manner.

Harry had already eaten, and opted out of dinner and went straight to his bedroom. For the past two weeks, Harry had been up to the early morning hours reading his new books. Harry never knew how _fun _it was to read the stuff. Sure, it was going to be work, but it was interesting work.

Harry lost himself both into his new reality, but still occasionally picked up a Codex and read until he fell asleep. The alarm woke him up at 5:00 AM every morning and he spent fifteen minutes carefully packing up his books and then went about his day.

As summer slowly came into a close, and September 1 came closer, he stayed out of the house to later and later times. Sometimes Kayla came to visit at Steven's house and the four of them including Harry would just watch TV, play around, and talk.

But Harry made sure that he was still getting the several hours of reading the books

**First of September**

Harry got up at five of the morning, packed his bags, put a blanket over Hedwig's cage, placed his metal suitcase in his luggage, and was out the door. Harry had become organized since he got his stuff, but still found himself carrying four heavy bags and a cage (which he reluctantly carried with his thumb). He got them out the door before dropping them. He didn't bother the Dursleys at all.

Ms. Maxwell was in her car out in front of the house. She offered to help with the bags but Harry said it was alright and made two trips. She took him to get some breakfast and by the time they actually got to London, it was a half-hour to 11:00 AM. The car ride to the station in London was relatively quick. He and Ms. Maxwell made small talk and she helped him with getting the bags on the trolley, plus put the cage on top of the bags. Harry kept the blanket over it, not to protect Hedwig, but hide her. A ten-year old boy alone with a trolley alone isn't suspicious _ever _unless he has an owl.

Harry pulled out the ticket and gulped, Platform Nine and Three-Quarters?

_What the hell? _He thought to himself.

There was a Platform _Nine _and Platform _Ten_ but nothing in between.

Luckily for Harry, the Station was mostly empty. Likewise, luckily for the world, the Station was empty because Harry went from panic mode to severely-angry in a second. Harry wasn't about to ask some guy where the Platform was. They would just laugh and move on.

Harry tapped his foot. _I'm smart, I'll think of something_. Harry snapped his fingers.

Surely, it has to be the barrier between the two platforms! Harry moved his trolley closer to the barrier and ever so slightly, _pushed _the trolley against the barrier, nothing.

"You have to go faster than that, Harry." Harry jumped and turned around. The voice belonged to Dominic Ellis, who had his own trolley.

"Faster? I'm going to crash into it if I do!"

Dom smiled, "You won't believe it really, but it works if you run recklessly into it. I read it in one of my books that I bought to read in my free time. Apparently, in the world we're about to enter…." He gave Harry a thumb up and a huge grin, "You can't just walk steadily and carefully to get where you want. YOU HAVE TO RUN FULL SPEED AND THROW CAUTION TO THE WIND!"

"Dom, who honestly expects someone to run into a solid barrier at full speed!?"

"I….don't know. Don't ask me. I've been here for about fifteen minutes now. I saw some dad telling his daughter to run as fast as she could into the wall."

Harry sighed, "Ok, and what happens when we get to the other side? Isn't all this running back and forth going to, you know, cause a _lot _of problems."

Dom laughed, "King's Cross is a strange place. Harry, you _can _just walk into it as long as you _believe _there's something on the other side and have no problems with it. If you don't fully believe there's something on the other side and you just walk, you'll crash. That's why you run. After all, if you're running, you'll certainly feel more assured….somehow."

Harry nodded, "Fine, let me try this out first…_walking_."

"No, I'll go first. Watch this," Dom ran as fast as he could _into the barrier_ but to Harry's amazement, he went through and was gone out of sight.

"Idiot…." Harry grinned, "I'm walking."

Harry walked steadily through the barrier. Dom was leaning against his luggage, out of breathe. "So, I see that you _walked_. Jerk," He laughed.

"I'm a jerk because I didn't run suicidal into a _barrier_?" Harry joked.

"Yes, yes you are. Oh, here's your Eldar stuff back," Dom dug into his top bag of luggage, but Harry waved his arm.

"No, keep it! It's fine." Harry said.

"Really? That's _awesome_. This stuff is awesome too. Where didja you get it again?"

"My dad left it to me."

"That's cool. We should go ahead and get our stuff on the train." Dom said.

The next half saw the final and largest wave, of students getting to the station and getting on the train. Luckily, Harry and Dom were two of the first to arrive and snagged a good compartment in the back. The two boys managed to pack their bags in the overhanging baggage compartment and their pets sat next to them. Harry had a snowy white owl compared to Dom's….dead owl?

"Dom, what's wrong with your owl?"

"He's asleep."

"I don't think Owls sleep like that. As a matter of fact, I don't think _any _living creature sleeps with their neck like that?"

"Like what?"

"Bent."

"Oh come on, he's ok. Watch." He shook the cage, nothing. "Well….he's a heavy sleeper."

"The dead normally are."

"Haha, let me try something," He pulled out his wand, muttered a phrase, and the compartment was quickly lit with blue light.

"He's awake," Harry said startled.

"Yeah, he's not dead. He's just hard to get awake," Dom said. The owl seemed to yawn and look around, not angry, but not happy either. "His name is Hash."

"Hash?"

"Yes."

"You're going to make me ask, aren't you?"

"Ask what?"

"WHY DID YOU NAME IT HASH?"

"The same reason you named yours….whatever."

"Hedwig."

"The same reason you named yours 'Hedwig'."

"You found the name in a school book?"

"I found it in a _book_. Yes." Dom chuckled.

The compartment door slid open, it was Mafloy and two other guys who were much larger, "Hey Potter, heard you was on the train."

"Sure am," Harry grinned, "Did you get your racing broom?"

"_Yes _I did. I decided I would just leave it at home though and practice. No point in bringing it to school, right?"

"Yeah, sure." Harry said.

"Hey, whose your….you wouldn't happen to be Dominic Ellis, would you?"

Dom, who was looking away with his arms cross since Mafloy arrived, turned and said, "Yes, and you're Draco Mafloy, correct?"

"Yes."

The two stared at each other, "Do you see it?"

"No, I don't. I really don't know why-"

"Neither do I."

"I can see it!" One of the big guys said.

"What, Crabbe?" Mafloy asked.

"Yeah, I see it too! See, if you're paying attention, its nothing. But if you glance quickly like most people do, then you guys look alike," the other guy said.

"Yeah, he's right." Harry chimed.

"Well then, nice to meet you Dominic," Mafloy shook Dom's hand.

"Call me Dom."

"And call me Mafloy. I don't like people calling me Draco in public."

"Why, its kinda of an awesome name," said Crabbe.

"Yeah, sounds like 'dragon'," Goyle said.

"No, it sounds like 'Drake' with an 'o' added to the end," Mafloy said bitterly.

"Well, we better get back to our compartment," Mafloy said, "You two are welcome to stop by whenever." He left.

Harry looked out the window; more kids of various ages were now showing up through the barriers. Some alone, others with parents.

"So Dom, where're your parents?" Harry asked.

He sighed, "At home. They're researchers and sadly, they've been swapped on some new topic for a month now. Don't know what it could be about."

"Sorry to hear that."

Dom shrugged, "Hey, they get paid. A _lot_. Hey look, those must be the Weasleys!" He pointed to a group of red headed boys, a woman, and a little girl. "My dad says their dad works at the Ministry. Not only that, but they have more kids going to Hogwarts at once than any other family."

"How many?"

"I don't know myself."

Harry watched as the mother messed with the smallest boy's nose and laughed. The students on the train whose parents waited for the train to leave made their goodbyes. As the train pulled out of the station, Harry could see a little red-headed girl chasing after the train waving.

Finally, the train was barreling down to….to….wherever this train was going. There was a lot of open field to either side of the train and it was sunny. Nothing really to look at at all.

"So, Harry," Dom leaned back and closed his eyes, "Remember anything about Voldemort?"

Harry was stunned, "You said his name?"

"And?"

Harry smiled, "It seems like there's real stigma against that."

"The guy's dead as far as anyone else is concerned. What could saying his name do?"

Harry slowly raised his arms, "Raaaaiiiiissssssseeeeee hiiiiiim frrrroooooommmm the DEAD!"

Dom laughed, "That's the last thing anyone needs, is to have to worry about a _zombie _wizard."

"Well Dom, I remember green light. Other then that? Nothing really."

"Bummer. You possibly destroyed, not just killed, but _destroyed _the single most dangerous man on the planet, and you can't even remember it."

Harry and Dom talked about completely random things until half-past noon when a woman opened slid open their compartment door, "Anything I can get you two?"

Harry, realizing he hadn't eaten a thing all day, stomach started growling, bought a little of everything and shared with Dom.

"Every Flavor Beans?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, _every _flavor. To be fair, I fail to see the magic in it. Surely, Muggles can do the same thing. One thing you should know that "our" candy is all gimmicky like that."

"Wait, so what's this one?" Harry asked, holding a gray bean.

"I would guess pepper, but who truly knows until they bite into one?"

Harry plopped the whole thing in his mouth, swallowed, and cringe violently, "Pepper."

"Yeah, I _think _its color coded so you can sorta guess what flavor you're getting."

They ate the _safe _candy and left the contents of the box of beans mostly untouched.

When Harry and Dom finished the last piece of chocolate, the compartment door slid open. It was a nervous-looking boy and a girl with bushy brown hair. She was already wearing her new robes.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville lost one," she said.

"Nope." Dom said.

"Not me." Harry said, "I'm sure _Dom _and I can help though."

The girl smiled, "That would be helpful, my name is Hermione Granger."

"I'm Dominic Ellis, nice to meet you." Dom greeted.

"I'm Harry Potter….and please don't start shaking my hand or something weird."

Hermione's jaw dropped, "I've read all about you! Nearly every single one of my background history reading books has you in it! The new ones at least…."

"Am I now?"

"Goodness, yes. I would read up about myself if I was you." She smiled, "Either of you know what house you'll be in? I hope that I'm in Gryffindor because it sounds by far the best. I heard Dumbledore himself was in it. I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad. Anyway, you two might want to get dress because I expect we'll arrive soon. We'll wait out here for you guys."

Two minutes later, the compartment door slid open again with Harry and Dom dressed in their school robes. Hermione just finished talking with another student and turned to Dom and Harry, "Have either of you heard about the break-in at Gringotts?"

"Break in?" The two asked in unison.

"Yep," Neville spoke for the first time, "Someone broke into the bank. Didn't steal anything either."

Dom grinned, "I bet the guy did it for kicks."

Hermione turned stern, "You don't break into banks for kicks!"

"You, madam, have never met the less-than-rational human." Dom said.

"Fair enough. I think we should split up." Hermione said.

"Ok, Dom and I start at the front and you two at the back?"

Dom clasped his hands, "Oh Harry, my dear _naïve _Harry! Clearly, we should split up so we can get to someone new, no?"

"Why?" Harry asked.

"He does have a point. Ok, I'm with Harry," Hermione said.

"And I'm with Neville, nice to meet you Neville-"

"Longbottom. Nice to meet you, Dominic."

"Argh, everyone, just call me Dom!"

* * *

1. Sorry. The Chaos Space Marine in the last chapter was just a "generic" CSM. I didn't want to go into detail since later chapters will get very detailed like that.

2. 1BatMan4u. You sir, have made my day. That was so much food for thought that I'm going to have to keep some as leftovers.

3. Tyranids will get screen time.....later.

4. As much as I would want to, I can't just start tossing in a ton of Warhammer stuff in yet. I want to slowly build into that. =)

5. I'm trying to think of what to do with the "Ork" students. I don't want the orks to be made up of annoying people like Umbridge. For some reason, there's something just so damn peaceful about the war-loving orcs compared to every other faction.

Thanks for the reviews guys. And if anyone's interested, here's the original work I've been working on off-board.

.?t=135489

Vampires? Check.

Airships? Check.

More than I'm listing because I'm tired? Hell yes-err-I mean check.


	8. Fame and Fortune Without the Fortune

**I'm on the fence onto whether or not to put Harry in Gryffndor or somewhere else. I could put him there but I want to start branching from the story, so somewhere else may be better in the long-run (and much more interesting.)**

However, the characters in the other house won't just be forgotten! I'll make every character worth being here by the end of the day. =)

HAPPY NEW YEARS! And future updates will be better written (I've been training and this was mostly written before finals kicked in my door and forced me to study).

**

* * *

**

**Fame and Fortune (without the Fortune)**

Harry and Hermione started at the back of the train while Dom and Neville began at the front.

**Dom and Neville**

"Have you seen a toad?" Neville asked.

"No," said the second-years in the compartment.

"It's been ten minutes and we have nothing to show for it!" Dom complained. He opened the next compartment door, "Hey Mafloy, have you seen a toad?"

"No," Mafloy and his friends were crowding around a spell book laughing.

"Oh, alright, later," he slid the door shut, "ROAR!"

Neville cowered, "Roar?"

**Hermione and Harry**

"Oh my God, its Harry Potter!"

Harry sighed, "Yes yes, nice to meet you. Have you seen a toad?"

"No," the girl said, "Wanna sit with us?"

"He's busy!" Hermione beamed at the girl and slammed the door, "Harry, you should maybe stand back on the next few…."

Harry smiled, "Yeah….understood."

Hermione knocked on the next door and it opened slowly, there was a red-headed boy eating a nasty looking sandwich, "Have you seen a toad?" she asked.

"Who is it Ronnie?" A boy asked in the back.

"Some girl asking if we've seen a toad."

"Tell her she's talking to one at the door!"

"You're talking to-WAIT A MINUTE!"

"I don't have time for this…." Harry muttered. He grabbed the door and slid it open, "Has anyone seen a toad!?"

There were a set of red-headed twins and a first-year boy sitting with them with a spider (?) in a box, "Wait…you're Harry Potter, aren't you!?" the first-year asked.

"Answer the question and I'll answer yours…."

"No, no toad. And my name is George," one of the twins shook Harry's hand, "He's Fred."

"Nice to meet you two, I'm….Harry Potter." Harry sighed as another wave of handshaking and thanks came his way. Hermione grinned and whispered in his ear something about this is the price of fame.

"Not like I asked for it," Harry whispered back.

"Well, there's nothing you can do about it except….use it."

That gave Harry an idea.

"Hey guys, could you help me with something?" Harry asked the four boys.

**Dom and Neville**

"Well, Neville old being, we got nada." Dom said exhausted.

"Ah…man. Hey, there's Harry and….a lot of other people," said Neville.

The search party doubled with the addition of the Weasley family and Lee Jordan.

They ended up searching every compartment but no toad. The search party stood together in the center of the train. Two second-year girls, already dressed in Hogwarts robes, came from the front of the train.

The girl with reddish-brown hair asked, "What are you guys doing?"

"Looking for his toad," Hermione patted Neville on the shoulder, "But we can't find him anywhere."

"I'm sorry. You all should put on your robes though, we're almost arrived to the station," the black hair girl said.

Dom was acting funny. He was behind everyone when the two girls arrive, but he somehow managed to push himself through the thong of boys and one girl, "My name is Dominic Ellis!" He shakes the black hair girl's hand, "Yours?"

"Cho Chang," she smiled, "And my friend's name is Marietta Edgecombe."

"Nice to meet you Marietta," Dom bowed. Harry, Ron, Neville, and Lee were confused about Dom's change in behavior. Fred and George grinned and Hermione just shook her head.

"Our names are Fred and George Weasley. This is our brother, Ronnie."

"_Ron_."

"I'm Lee Jordan, first year."

"Neville Longbottom."

"Dominic Ellis!"

"You've already introduced yourself," Cho giggled.

"My name is Hermione Granger."

"And I'm….Joseph." Harry said.

"I thought your name was Harry, Harry." Dom poked Harry in the shoulder, "Clearly, you're Harry and not that fake name you're trying your best to use."

"Harry….as in Harry _Potter_?" Cho asked.

"The one and only! I've been teaching him the ropes and-" Dom closed his mouth as the two girls ran past him to get a closer look at Harry.

"Wow! Look at the scar!"

"It's….kinda cool."

"My grandfather had two of those!" Dom complained.

"Your grandfather was a Nazi, wasn't he?" Fred asked.

Dom paused, "Still."

"WELL!" Harry said loudly, "Time to go hit the old dusty trail and get dressed for school." Harry threw in pseudo-stretching, which confused everyone whether or not he was about to go get dressed or go take a nap.

"Yeah….you go get ready for school HARRY POTTER!" Dom yelled.

People started poking their heads out of the compartments one by one.

"Harry Potter?"

"Did someone say Harry Potter?"

"The Boy Who Lived?"

Harry turned his head slowly to Dom and mouthed the words, "I hate you so much."

"See ya, buddy," Dom gave Harry a thumbs up and while the corridor was flooded with people wanted to shake Harry's hand or in some cases, _hug _him.

Ten minutes later, Harry broke away from the group. Unlike the time in the Leaky Cauldron where it just died down, Harry had to _break _away from the group.

Back in the compartment, Dom had just finished putting on his robes when he heard something from Harry's baggage.

Couldn't hurt to see, he thought. He carefully open the suitcase. Robes, books….and the metal suitcase. Did he keep a CD player in there? He grabbed the handle and was shocked.

"What the hell?"

He tries to pry it open, no shock this time, but it was locked. Normally, Dom would just let it go, but there was something pulling him in. He punched at the suitcase, nothing. Why would that even work? He thought.

_C'mon. Open!_

From the back of his mind, a faint voice answer. _Fine_.

The suitcase opened and the compartment was filled with red light. Dom's head was spinning, he felt as if he vomit. Images were pouring into his head and a few were powerful enough to make it feel like he was there. Voices….so many voices.

_"For the God Emperor!"_

_"For the Greater Good!"_

_"Blood for the Blood God!"_

_"Skulls for the Skull Throne!"_

_"WAAAGH!"_

Dom fell to the ground clutching his head. Harry walked, just missing the suitcase turning off the red light and shutting itself.

"Dom! Dom!"

"Huh…" Dom rose back to his feet, "Man, what happened?"

"You were on the ground out cold or something. You need to see a doctor?"

"Oh. I'm fine. I just tripped and hit my head," he said rubbing his temples, "I'm fine now."

Harry sighed a sign of relief, "Had me worried. I need to get dressed. We'll be arriving in minutes. Why is my stuff out?"

"I….don't know."

Harry shifts through his stuff, "Doesn't look like anything's been taken."

Harry was too tired from the crowd to question it any further, he got dressed. Dom stared at the suitcase vehemently. There was something odd about it, but he can't remember _what_.

A voice echoed throughout the train, "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes. Please leave your luggage on the train as it will be taken to the school separately."

Harry's stomach turned. He had to leave the Warhammer Suitcase here with someone else?

The train slowed and finally….stopped. It was dark out. Dark and cold. Harry didn't even notice that the sun had gone down while searching for a toad on the train.

"Well Harry, time to go!" Dom cheered. The two left their compartment. The rest of the students were leaving as well but Hermione and Neville waited patiently in the corridor for Dom and Harry. Together, the four of them disembarked from the train. The platform was cold enough to make the four kids shivered. From the distance, over a sea of bobbing heads of students was a lamp.

With a great booming voice, Hagrid yelled, "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! Hey there Harry!" Hagrid hairy face beamed over the sea of heads.

"C'mon. Follow me everyone! Mind your step!"

"Friend of yours?" Dom asked.

"Yeah. Didn't I introduce you two?"

"Not properly I'm sure."

Stumbling along, the first years followed Hagrid down a steep, narrow path. It was dark on both sides of path. Nobody spoke much during the trip.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a second just round this bend here."

The path opened onto the edge of a great black lake. Chants of "ooooh" spread as students took their first sight of a vast castle that was perched on top of a great mountain. There was a fleet of small boats bobbing in the water by the shore.

"Ok, everyone in! No more than four to a boat!"

Harry, Dom, Neville, and Hermione boarded the same boat.

"Everyone in? Good! FORWARD!" He shouted. The fleet of boats moved at once, smoothly gliding across the dark lake. There were whispers, but everyone was amazed by the castle overhead.

"Amazing…" Hermione whispered to Harry, "The pictures were nice, but they're nothing next to the real thing."

The first boats reached a cliff and everyone bent their heads as the boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid an opening in the cliff face. Carried along a dark tunnel, the boats seemed to be taking them right underneath he castle until they reached some kind of underground harbor. They clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.

"Whose toad is this?" Hagrid asked, holding a toad in the air.

"Trevor!" cried Neville holding out his hands.

"Where the hell was he?" Dom asked. Hermione and Harry shrugged. They walked a flight of stone steps and crowded around a huge, oak front door. Hagrid raised his fist and knocked three times.

The door swung open at once. A black-haired witch with emerald robes stood in the doorway. She reminded Harry slightly of Petunia.

"The first years, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid said.

"Thank you. I'll take them from here."

She pulled the door wide.

"Wow…" Dom muttered.

The entrance hall was so big that you could've fit the Dursleys' home in it. Stone walls were lit with flaming torches like at Gringotts. The ceiling went so high that it was hard to make out and a marble staircase facing them lead to upper floors.

They followed the Professor across stone floor; the sound of a hundred shoes tapping across stone floor was giving Harry a small headache. To his right, Harry heard the voices of hundreds of students. The group of first years past this door and followed the Professor into a small empty chamber.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly but first, you must take your seats in the Great Hall. You will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because while you are here, your house will be something like your family within the school. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in the house dormitory, and spend free time in your house's common room."

"The four houses; Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin; each have its own noble history and have all produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you art at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points while rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while waiting."

Her eyes darted to Neville's cloak while Harry tried to flatten his hair.

"I shall return when we are ready. Please wait quietly." She left the chamber.

Harry turned to Dom, "How do they sort us?"

"Hat."

"What is that, a test?" Harry asked.

"No….its a hat. Don't think too hard about it. Its magic!"

While Harry stood there confused, he wondered if Dom was screwing with him. The room was silent except Hermione and Dom, who were discussing spells that might be used for a hypothetical sorting test.

"WHAT THE-?"

Harry jumped, turned, and gasp. Twenty ghosts streamed through the back wall. They were slightly transparent and glided across the room talking to one another as if this was _normal_.

"Forgive and forget I s ay. We ought to give him a second chance," said a fat little monk.

"Dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name. He's not even a ghost….what are you all doing here?

A ghost wearing a ruff and tights suddenly noticed the first years.

"New students…about to be sorted I suppose?"

A few nods.

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar.

"Move along now. The Sorting Ceremony's about to start. Form a line and follow me."

Harry got in line behind Dom, with Hermione and Neville behind. They walked out of the chamber, across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

To understand what Harry saw next, you have to take one of the most splendid and strangest sights you've ever seen and double it. It was lit by thousands of candles floating in midair over four long tables where students sat. These tables lay with glittering golden plates and goblets.

"Its like a Last Supper _all _the time I suppose." Dom joked.

At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers sat. McGonagall led the first years up there so they came to a halt in a line facing the other students with the teachers behind them. Now, imagine being in that splendid and strangest place again and having hundreds of people staring at you.

Harry looked up and saw a black ceiling dotted with stars. He heard Hermione whisper, "It's bewitched to look like the outside sky. I read about it in-"

"_Hogwarts, A History_." Dom finished. Hermione nodded.

Harry looked down s McGonagall placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool was the ugliest, dirtiest wizard hat you would ever saw. Petunia wouldn't have allowed it in her house and Vernon probably would've shot it.

"Seriously?" Harry muttered.

The hat twitched and the brim began to move….like a mouth and began to sing.

_"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,_

_But don't judge on what you see,_

_I'll eat myself if you can find_

_A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,_

_Your top hats sleek and tall,_

_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And I can cap them all!_

_There's nothing hidden in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can't see,_

_So try me on and I will tell you_

_Where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_

_Where dwell the brave at heart,_

_Their daring, nerve, and chivalry_

_Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

_Where they are just and loyal,_

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

_And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaws_

_If you're a ready mind, _

_Where those of wit and learning,_

_Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_

_You'll make your real friends_

_Those cunning folk use any means_

_To achieve their ends,_

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

_And don't get in a flap!_

_You're in safe hands (though I have none) _

_For I'm a Thinking Cap!"_

A round of applause met the end of the song. The hat bowed to the four tables and become still.

"A singing hat…." Dom muttered.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

Professor McGonagall stepped forward, holding a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abott, Hannah!"

A girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment pause and then the hat shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

The table on the right cheered and clapped. Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving at here.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Boot, Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

The table second from the left clapped and several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he sat down.

"Brocklehurst, Mandy."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Brown, Lavender."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry turned and faced the table at the far left. The Weasley twins were cheering along with others at the table.

"Bulstrode, Millicent."

"SLYTHERIN!"

This boy went to the table at the far right. The Sorting continued and then it was Dominic's turn.

"Dominic Ellis."

Dom strolled casually to the stool, sat down, and had the hat rested comfortably on….and around given the size of the hat, his head. A few moments later.

"RAVENCLAW!"

Dom grinned and walked to the cheering table. More names were called.

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The hat wasn't instant in the Sorting like everybody else. "Finnigan, Seamus" sat there for a full minute before being declared Gryffindor.

"Granger, Hermione."

She almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.

Ten seconds.

Twenty.

Forty.

Minute, twenty-five.

McGonagall looked curious, but before she could say anything, the hat shouted, "RAVENCLAW!"

"Neville Longbottom."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Neville ran off, hat still on head, and had to hand it back to "MacDougal, Morag" amid a wave of laughter.

"Mafloy, Draco."

The hat barely touched his head when it shouted, "SLYTHERIN!"

Mafloy went to join his friends, Crabbe and Goyle.

Not many names left. Six names later and then Harry was called.

"Potter, Harry!"

Harry stepped forward amid whispers that suddenly broke out across the hall.

Harry sat down and the hat was dropped over his eyes. It was dark inside.

"Hmm," said a small voice. "This is a difficult. You're brave, sure, but extremely cunning. And somewhat ambitious."

_Ravenclaw…Ravenclaw!_

"Ravenclaw? You sure? Slytherin may be a good place for you. They'll help you on the way to greatness."

_Put him in Ravenclaw_, said an unknown voice.

"Who said that?"

_Said what? _Harry asked.

"What's going on?" Dom heard a Ravenclaw prefect ask. The hat had been on Harry's head for _five minutes_.

"Do you have a pet with you or something?"

_No_. Harry thought.

"I need to think about this."

Professor McGonagall walked briskly to the hat, "What's going on?" She whispered.

"I'll have to get back with him," the Sorting Hat said.

"What?" She asked.

"I'll have to think about it for a bit. For now, send the other students over."

McGonagall was confused, but took the hat off Harry and told him to get back in line. He shrugged and went back into the dwindling line.

More names were called off. But no one was paying attention to them. Everyone was paying attention to the boy who hasn't been sorted yet. The most famous boy in the magical community hasn't been sorted yet.

"Zabini, Blaise."

"SLYTHERIN!"

Zabini was the final name called. McGonagall rolled up her scroll and called for Harry to try it again. The hat went around Harry's ears once more.

"You're _very _confusing to sort."

_I've notice_d.

Another few minutes went past. More whispering, but finally, Dom raised his hand and kept it raised until McGonagall called on him, "What is it?"

"Can I talk to him for a bit?

The Professor looked stern, "And why is that?"

"I'm like, his best friend or something."

"I don't see-"

"Professor McGonagall," the wizard sitting in the center of the Teacher's Table spoke, "Let the boy speak to Mr. Potter."

"Fine, come on up."

Attention went from Harry to Dom who walked quickly up the aisle to the stool. He tapped the hat.

"What is it?" The hat asked.

"What's the problem?" Dom asked.

"He's difficult to sort."

"Then put him in Ravenclaw!"

There were several protests from the Great Hall.

"No, put him in Slytherin!"

"Gryffindor!"

"Hufflepuff!"

"Shut up!" said the Gryffindor and Slytherin.


	9. Ravenclaw!

Good news! Soon, the story will be off the canon track and going into its own direction.

* * *

"Harry, what do you want to be in?" Dom asked.

Harry's voice but muffled, but it was clear what he said, "Ravenclaw!"

"See, put him in Ravenclaw!"

"It doesn't work that way Mr. Ellis."

Dom placed his hand on the hat and stared at the brim.

_Put the boy in Ravenclaw, **now**_.

Dom then turned and went back to the table.

Seconds later, "RAVENCLAW!"

* * *

**Hash, Ravenclaw, and the Potions Master**

Harry took the hat off his slowly amid cheers and went to the cheering Ravenclaw table to sit next to Dom, across from Hermione, whom was sitting next to a ghost of a lady. Harry looked up to the High Table. At the end the aligned with the Gryffindor table sat Hagrid, who gave Harry thumbs up. In a large gold chair sat Albus Dumbledore.

"So, that's Dumbledore…" Harry said.

"Yep. One of, if not greatest, wizard in the world," Hermione said.

Dumbledore had silver hair and a long, matching beard that went down to his belt. Professor Quirrell, the nervous man from the Leaky Cauldron, was also there, looking peculiar in a large purple turban. Harry then turned to his own table. All the empty golden plates and goblets were making him hungry.

Dumbledore got to his feet, and opened his arms wide.

"Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words and here they are….Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you."

He sat back down and everyone clapped and cheered.

"What was that about?" Harry asked.

"I don't know," Dom answered, "Just nod and clap. What the-?"

Harry turned back around and looked at the table. Food…._food…_FOOD! Roast beef, chicken, pork and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled and roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup and….peppermint humbugs.

Harry has never truly starved in the Dursley home, but he never quite got to eat anything he liked too much. Harry piled his plate with a bit of everything except peppermints. The food tasted wonderful.

"Liking the meal?" The ghost lady asked the first years.

"Yeah!" They cheered.

"Good. Let me introduce myself. I am Helena Ravenclaw, Resident ghost of Ravenclaw Tower."

"Nice to meet you, Miss Ravenclaw. I'm Dominic Ellis, but everyone calls me Dom."

"Nice to meet you Dom. And you two must be Hermione and Harry," she mused, "There's promise here. I feel like we may win the House Cup this year! It's been over a decade since we've one and the Slytherin have won six years running." She said glaring at the Slytherin table.

"Why is that ghost covered in blood?" A first year, Terry Boot asked.

The Gray Lady grimaced, "I don't know."

"And those two ghosts?" Dom asked pointed to the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff ghosts.

"Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington and the Fat Friar. Of course, everyone calls Sir Nicholas nearly-headless Nick."

"Let me guess, beheading gone awry?" Harry asked.

"You are a smart boy…."

The food on the plates vanished. Moments later, desserts appeared. Ice cream, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs, jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, Jell-O, rice pudding and more.

With dessert, the first years began discussing their families.

"My parents were both wizards, researchers mostly." Terry Boot began.

"Mine too, only with a lot more research," Dom grinned, "So much, I hardly see them."

"I'm sorry," Hermione said.

"Its cool. It's no surprise that I ended up in Ravenclaw though. So, what about you?"

"Both of my parents are Muggles. So, I got the letter…."

"Nasty shock, hmm?" Harry said.

"Yes."

Harry yawned and was glad no one asked him for details on the past eleven years of his life. He looked up to the High Table again. Hagrid was drinking from his large goblet. McGonagall and Dumbledore were speaking. Quirrell was talking with a greasy black haired, hooked nose, sallow skinned teacher. The hooked-nosed teacher looked past Quirrell's turban straight into Harry's eyes. Pain erupted across Harry's scar.

"Ouch!" Harry said clapping a hand to his head.

"What is it?" Hermione asked worried.

"Nothing, headaches."

"Ah, nothing a good night's sleep won't fix," Dom said.

"Who is that man talking to Quirrell?" Harry asked to no one in particular.

"Professor Snape. Teachers potions but wants Quirrell's job." A girl walked past him said. Harry turned to see that it was Cho Chang.

"Hi Cho!" Dom greeted, scrambling to his fee to talk to her, "How are you today?"

"Fine," she laughed, "You just saw me an hour or two ago."

"Its been _that _long already?"

Dom and Cho talked on while Harry watched Snape for a while. Snape didn't return the look. Soon, the desserts disappeared and Dumbledore was to his feet. The once loud Hall fell silent.

"Just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you all. First years, note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."

Dumbledore's eyes flashed to the direction to someone at the Gryffindor table and the continued, "I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind everyone that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors."

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch."

"Finally, I must tell everyone that the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a rather unpleasant death."

Dom grinned, "He looks serious."

"Sure looks like it," Harry said.

"Now, before we get to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. The smiles on the other teachers' faces went from natural to fixed all too quickly. Dumbledore pulled at his wand as if he's going to conduct an orchestra. He flicked it and a golden ribbon flew out of it and rose above the tables and twisted itself into words.

"Everyone pick their favorite tune and off we go!"

The school bellowed.

_"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,_

_Teach us something please,_

_Whether we be old and bald_

_Or young with scabby knees,_

_Our heads could do with filling_

_With some interesting stuff,_

_For now they're bare and full of air,_

_Dead flies and bits of fluff,_

_So teach us things worth knowing,_

_Bring back what we've forgot,_

_Just do your best, we'll do the rest,_

_And learn until our brains all rots."_

Nobody finished together and the twins Harry knows as Fred and George were singing as if it was a funeral march. Dumbledore conducted the last few lines with his wands and clapped the loudest when it was over.

"Ah, music," he said as he wiped his eyes, "A magic of magic. Now, time for bed. Off you trot!"

The Ravenclaw first years followed a Prefect name Penelope Clearwater to Ravenclaw tower. They left the Great Hall, went up the Marble Suitcase, and began the long and often confusing trip to Ravenclaw tower. There were hidden doors ways for some reason. From far away, Harry could hear someone yelling "Peeves!"

"What is that?" Harry asked.

"Peeves," Penelope answered, "He's an annoying little-"

"Language Miss Prefect!" Cho laughed.

"You want to watch out for him. Only the Bloody Baron scares him," Penelope continued.

They continued until reaching a portrait that was so large it looked like a doorway. It was a rather bad portrait, being only gray, as if someone was drawing a cloud close-up. Harry jumped when the portrait began to speak, "How much wood can a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"

Penelope answered, "That's a rather silly question, running out of riddles?"

A woman jumped out from "below" the inside of the portrait smiling, "The answer is seventeen. Sorry, I haven't come up with anything all summer! The Fat Lady and I have been arguing."

"About what?" Penelope asked.

She growled, "Nothing. You may come in." The portrait swung forward to reveal a hole in the wall. The Ravenclaws scrambled through. The Common Room was large and dome shaped. The domed ceiling was painted with stars and the carpet a midnight blue. Tables, chairs, and bookshelves covered most of the floor space. For all intents and purposes, it was like being in a small library.

The windows were huge, beautiful arches that gave an impressive view of the mountains. A white marble statue of a woman stood next to a doorway across the room which they stepped through to enter a hallway that lead in two different directions.

"Ok, boys to the left, girls to the right!" Penelope exclaimed.

Harry was too tired to talk and followed Dom to the boy's dormitory. Their were four-poster beds for each boy and at the foot of each bed sat a trunk with each individual boy's stuff that they had brought along for school.

Each boy pulled on their pajamas and fell into each bed. No one spoke, but just fell to sleep. At around midnight, there was a loud screeching sound. When Harry awoke, he heard someone whispering loudly and struggling with something. It was too dark to see what.

"Shut….up!" Harry heard the voice whisper. Whatever the boy was talking to, it replied by screeching. The lights turned on to show Dom in his light-blue pajamas fighting an owl.

"What's going on?" Terry asked.

"Hash won't _shut up_!"

"Screech!"

"Jesus, let him out!"

"….fine!" Dom ran over to the window and opened it wide, but the owl remained on the ground screeching.

"What's his problem?"

"_I don't know!_" Dom shouted.

"Maybe we should go get someone?" Harry asked. Dom frowned.

"Or I can do this." He picked up Hash, walked over to the window, and threw him out, shutting the window before another screech could hurt everyone's eardrums.

The boys yawned and went back to sleep. Harry had a strange dream. He wore Quirrell's turban that kept talking to him. It told him to transfer to Slytherin at once. Harry told the turban he wanted to be in Ravenclaw. Every time he said no to the hat's request, the turban got heavier.

And then something happened. Just as Harry felt like he would be crushed under the weight of the turban, a figure appeared. He came from nowhere and in one hand carried a powerful gun. The turban demanded the man go away, but he didn't. Instead, the man pushed the barrel of the gun and fired.

It was a bolt pistol. The pierced the turban and sent it flying, but it didn't shred the turban. Then, the turban disappeared.

Harry woke up, not able to remember the dream at all. The next day was almost what Harry was afraid of, people bothering him. With all these people trying to get a good luck at him, Harry often had trouble trying to find his class. It didn't help that there were a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts of various condition and ability. Some were wide, narrow, and rickety. Some lead to different places on Friday while some had a step that disappeared halfway up that you had to remember to jump.

It was as if the school was trying to kill the first years or something. There were doors that wouldn't open unless you tickled them or asked them to open. There were some doors that weren't doors but walls pretending to be doors. One could try to use the portraits as a reference point when traveling the school, but the people in the portraits often left their portraits to visit their neighbors. Even the coats of armor could walk.

The ghosts don't help either. They can suddenly glide in at a moment's whim. And if they glide through the door you're trying to open, you're in for a nasty shock. A Poltergeist named Peeves would drop baskets on paper and throw chalk at student's late for class.

But if you're late, you had more than just Peeves to worry about. Filch and his cat, Mrs. Norris patrolled the halls separately. But if you broke a rule in front of Mrs. Norris, expect Filch to show up moments later. Filch knew the secret passageways of the school and could pop up as suddenly as any ghost. Students hated him and many of them (especially Harry) wanted to kick Mrs. Norris.

The classes themselves weren't as frustrating as finding them to Harry's joy. Every Wednesday, the students studied the different stars and movements of the planets while three times a week, they went outside to greenhouses to study Herbology with a small witch named Professor Sprout.

History of Magic was indeed boring, but Harry was getting by. It was taught by a ghost named Professor Binns who one day had slept in front of the staff room fire and just got up from his body the next day to go teach. His droning voice would make even the most diehard historian fall asleep on a normal day. Harry took his notes, but missed a few things as did Dom, who missed nearly everything going to sleep.

Professor Flitwick was the charms teacher who had the misfortune of being a little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. He took roll call and was excited when Harry's name came up (as he was Head of Ravenclaw).

McGonagall was a strict teacher. The first day of class, she warned that anyone messing around would be kicked out of her class…._forever_. Then she changed her desk to a pig and back again. It seemed mechanical in her movements as if she had been doing it all day. After twenty or so minutes of _extremely _complicated notes, each were given a match and ordered to turn it to a needle.

Dom kept tapping it, but the match only grayed slightly.

"Nice try Mr. Ellis," Professor McGonagall said. When she passed by Hermione's desk, she had picked up her match and shown the class had it had become silver and pointy (while still wooden).

"You're turn, Mr. Potter," she said when it was his turn. Harry could feel the eyes of the other students watching him. He gave the match a tap and it quickly become pointy.

"Well, at least you got the points," she picked it up, "And its metal. Good job, Mr. Potter."

The class that looks interesting when one reads the name, Defense Against the Dark Arts, was anything but. Quirrell turned it into a joke. His room smelled like garlic, he wore that stupid turban all the time and gave a story about how it was given to him by an African prince after getting rid of a zombie. He didn't teach anyone _how _he got rid of the zombie.

Even the turban smelled like garlic. It was also during the first week where Harry and Dom grew apart from Hermione who buried herself in school work and school-related works. While Dom and Harry studied for tomorrow's classes every night an hour before bed, she studied every class for several hours every night.

Friday was a great day for Harry; it was the second day in a row he made it to the Great Hall without getting lost.

"Well, I'm tired. What do we have today Harry?" Dom asked as he drunk a cup of tea (to everyone's confusion, as all the cups on the table were….goblets really and he was using a normal cup).

"Double Potions with the Hufflepuffs after the Gryffindor/Slytherin Double Potion class."

Harry groaned, "I don't think the Potions Teacher likes me."

Dom sighed, "He only likes Slytherin, don't take offense to it. He doesn't like a lot of people, but he's good at what he does."

Mail arrived via owls swooping into the Great Hall carrying mail and packages. Harry was use to this by now and Hedwig arrived everyday. Harry usually didn't get mail, but today, he got a small letter.

Dom, on the other hand, hasn't seen his owl since he kicked it out the first night. So, when Hash arrived, hovered thirty feet above the table, possibly fell to sleep and came crashing into the table….actually, Dom wasn't surprised at all. He told Harry the second day of school how the owl was his grandfather's and how surprised he is the thing is still alive.

Dom takes the newspaper from Hash's leg and puts a few bronze coins into Hash's pouch. Hash seemed to have slept in the center of the Ravenclaw table for a few minutes while Harry read the letter.

Dear Harry,

I know you get Friday afternoons off, so would you like to come and have a cup of tea with me here? I want to hear all about your first week. Send us an answer back with Hedwig.

Hagrid

"Do you have a quill?" Harry asked Dom. He shook his head.

"Here," the boy named Terry Boot handed Harry a quill from across the table.

Harry quickly scribbled, _Yes, I will see you later_. On the back of the note and sent Hedwig off again.

Potions lesson was the most confusing lesson to Harry. Not because of the school work but because of the irking suspicious that the teacher didn't like him.

Potions lessons took place in one of the dungeons and were colder than the main castle.

Snape, when reaching Harry's name, also reacted to Harry's name.

"Ah, Harry Potter. Our new—_celebrity_."

The room fell silent….even more silent at least.

He turned to the class, "You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses. I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even stopper death— if you aren't a big bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

Silence followed the speech and the only person looking desperate to prove their worth was Hermione who sat at the edge of her seat.

'Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormood?" Hermione's hand shot up.

"I don't know, sir," Harry said.

Snape's lips curled into a sneer.

"Tut, tut—fame clearly isn't everything."

"Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

"The stomach of a goat." Harry answered shortly. That was one of the things he learned last night.

Snape's sneer subsided, but wasn't out.

"What's the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

"Nothing. They're the same plant." Hermione's hand slowly drifted down. The class was amazed.

Snape's grin disappeared and he turned to the class, "For everyone's information, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. Bezoars can cure most poisons and monkshood and wolfsbane also goes by the name of aconite….is everyone writing this stuff down?"

Quills and parchment were quickly pulled out as everyone scrambled to keep the information in their short-term memory long enough to get it on paper.

Everyone was put into pairs and sent to mix up a simple potion to cure boils. He swept ran the class in his long black cloak and watched as their weighed dried nettles and crush snake fangs and criticized anyone when he could.

Things didn't look good for the Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw class. There were no huge mistakes, but most potions didn't come out exactly right. Hermione's was the closest to what Snape wanted. The goal of the day was to make a simple potion that cured boils. It wasn't difficult, but the scary teacher roaming the room made it difficult. Some students would slip up every time he walked by thinking that they were doing something wrong in the first place.

By the end of class, everyone had finished creating at least one vat of potion. Hermione actually finished two. There was no question that neither Hufflepuff nor Ravenclaw left unscathed, each having lost a few points somehow. An hour later, Dom and Harry returned to the Ravenclaw Tower.

The Common Room was almost empty except for a few students sitting at a table doing homework and talking. Harry headed to the Boy's Dorm and grabbed his suitcase from under his bed. Harry opened it, finding a letter resting on top of everything else. Amused, Harry opened it and read.

_"Warhammer40k: Rogue Trader and the later Second (aka Final) Edition were cult classics in the late 80s early 90s_. _It officially came to an end in 1995_."

That was all it said but it gave Harry a bad feeling. Wasn't some of the reading material fourth edition? How could the Second be the final? He checked the time; he was about to head over to Hagrid's hut anyway.

"Hey, Dom. Wanna come with me to meet someone?"

Dom, who was resting on his bed, asked, "What's her name?"

"It's not a her."

"Then I don't care…tired….later," Dom fell asleep. Harry shrugged, picked up the suitcase, and left to head to Hagrid's shack.


End file.
